Open Access

ARTICLE

Synaptonemal complexes and XY behavior in two species of argentinian armadillos: Chaetophractus villosus and Dasypus hybridus (Xenarthra, Dasypodidae)

R. B. SCIURANO, M.S. MERANI, JIMENA BUSTOS, A.J. SOLARI

Centro de Investigaciones en Reproducción (CIR)- Facultad de Medicina, UBA. Paraguay 2155, (1121) Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Address correspondence to: Dr. Alberto J. Solari. Centro de Investigaciones en Reproducción (CIR), Facultad de Medicina, UBA. Paraguay 2155, (1121) Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA. E-mail: asolari@fmed.uba.ar

BIOCELL 2006, 30(1), 57-66. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2006.30.057

Abstract

Spermatocytes from the two armadillo species, C. villosus and D. hybridus were studied in microspreads for synaptonemal complexes (SCs) and in thin sections for electron microscopy (EM). The complete SC karyotype generally agrees with previous reports on mitotic chromosomes, except for the sex chromosomes. The X chromosome is submetacentric in both species and the Y is the shortest one in C. villosus and the second shortest in D. hybridus, and an extremely acrocentric one. A SC is formed along the total length of the Y chromosome, and this SC persists along all the pachytene substages. A single recombination nodule (RN) is located in the region of the SC nearest to the attachment to the nuclear envelope. The lateral element (LE) of the X axis in the SC shows a wavy aspect in most of the SC length distant from the nuclear envelope. Nucleoli are attached to acrocentric or submetacentric bivalents, are visibly double in some cells , and in thin sections show an elaborate nucleolonema. Some differences in the XY are species-specific, as the higher degree of tangling and stronger heteropycnosis in D. hybridus. The effective, single crossover of the XY pair is highly localized, despite the permanence of a long tract of SC.

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