XRCC3 is essential for proper double-strand break repair and homologous recombination in rice meiosis.

RAD51 paralogues play important roles in the assembly and stabilization of RAD51 nucleoprotein filaments, which promote homologous pairing and strand exchange reactions in organisms ranging from yeast to vertebrates. XRCC3, a RAD51 paralogue, has been characterized in budding yeast, mouse, and Arabidopsis. In the present study, XRCC3 in rice was identified and characterized. The rice xrcc3 mutant exhibited normal vegetative growth but complete male and female sterility. Cytological investigations revealed that homologous pairing and synapsis were severely disrupted in the mutant. Meiotic chromosomes were frequently entangled from diplotene to metaphase I, resulting in chromosome fragmentation at anaphase I. The immunostaining signals from γH2AX were regular, implying that double-strand break (DSB) formation was normal in xrcc3 meiocytes. However, COM1 was not detected on early prophase I chromosomes, suggesting that the DSB end-processing system was destroyed in the mutant. Moreover, abnormal chromosome localization of RAD51C, DMC1, ZEP1, ZIP4, and MER3 was observed in xrcc3. Taken together, the results suggest that XRCC3 plays critical roles in both DSB repair and homologous chromosome recombination during rice meiosis.