Interfered Chromosome Pairing Promotes Meiosis Instability of Autotetraploid Arabidopsis by High Temperatures

Abstract Alterations of environmental temperature affect multiple meiosis processes in flowering plants. Polyploid plants derived from whole genome duplication (WGD) have enhanced genetic plasticity and tolerance to environmental stress, but meanwhile face a challenge for organization and segregation of doubled chromosome sets. In this study, we investigated the impact of increased environmental temperature on male meiosis in autotetraploid Arabidopsis thaliana . Under low to mildly-increased temperatures (5-28°C), irregular chromosome segregation universally takes place in synthesized autotetraploid Columbia-0 (Col-0). Similar meiosis lesions occur in autotetraploid rice ( Oryza sativa L.) and allotetraploid canola ( Brassica napus cv. Westar), but not in evolutionary-derived hexaploid wheat ( Triticum aestivum ). As temperature increases to extremely high, chromosome separation and tetrad formation are severely disordered due to univalent formation caused by suppressed crossing-over. We found a strong correlation between tetravalent formation and successful chromosome pairing, both of which are negatively correlated with temperature elevation, suggesting that increased temperature interferes with crossing-over prominently by impacting homolog pairing. Besides, we showed that loading irregularities of axis proteins ASY1 and ASY4 co-localize on the chromosomes of syn1 mutant, and the heat-stressed diploid and autotetraploid Col-0, revealing that heat stress affects lateral region of synaptonemal complex (SC) by impacting stability of axis. Moreover, we showed that chromosome axis and SC in autotetraploid Col-0 are more sensitive to increased temperature than that of diploid Arabidopsis. Taken together, our study provide evidence suggesting that WGD without evolutionary and/or natural adaption negatively affects stability and thermal tolerance of meiotic recombination in Arabidopsis thaliana .