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Calendar Name: seminars
Scheduled for: Friday, May 28 2010, 14:00 - 15:30
Event text:    Dr Raphaël Mercier
	       
	       Génétique et Amélioration des Plantes
	       INRA - Centre de Versailles Grignon
	       FRANCE
Details:       "Turning meiosis into mitosis  and other games  with
	       meiosis"
	       
	       ABSTRACT
	       
	       Apomixis, or asexual clonal reproduction through seeds,
	       is of immense interest due to its potential
	       revolutionary application in agriculture. One key
	       element of apomixis is apomeiosis, a deregulation of
	       meiosis which results in a mitotic-like division.
	       Meiosis halves the chromosome number because its two
	       divisions follow a single round of DNA replication. This
	       process involves two cell transitions, the prophase to
	       meiosis I transition and the unique meiosis I to meiosis
	       II transition. We show that OSD1 and the A-type cyclin
	       CYCA1;2/TAM play a major role in both transitions in
	       Arabidopsis. A series of osd and tam mutants failed to
	       enter meiosis II and thus produced diploid spores and
	       functional diploid gametes. These diploid spores had a
	       recombined genotype produced through the single meiosis
	       I division. Combining tam and osd1 mutations lead to a
	       failure in the prophase to meiosis I transition during
	       male meiosis and to the production of tetraploid spores
	       and gametes. This suggests that TAM and OSD1 are
	       involved in the control of both meiotic transitions. 
	       In addition, by combining either the osd or the tam
	       mutation with two others affecting key meiotic processes
	       (spo11-1 and rec8), we obtained plants producing diploid
	       gametes through a mitotic-like division, that were
	       genetically identical to their parents. The obtained
	       plants, called MiMe-1 and MiMe-2 respectively, produce
	       functional diploid gametes that are genetically
	       identical to their mother. Creation of the MiMe
	       genotypes and apomeiosis phenotype is an important step
	       towards understanding and engineering apomixis.

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