Spreading and fluorescence in situ hybridization of male and female meiocyte chromosomes from Arabidopsis thaliana for cytogenetical analysis.

Advances in molecular biology and in the genetics of Arabidopsis thaliana have led to it becoming an important model for the analysis of meiosis in plants. Cytogenetic investigations are pivotal to meiotic studies and a number of technological improvements for Arabidopsis cytology have provided a range of tools to investigate chromosome behavior during meiosis. This chapter contains a detailed description of cytological techniques currently used in our laboratory for the basic preparation of meiotic chromosomes for investigation of the female and male meiotic pathway and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis for the frequency and distribution of crossovers (chiasmata) at metaphase I.