Abstract
A phenomenon where the centromeres of different bivalents fuse to form typical star-shaped configurations has been observed at the pachytene stage of three hybrids, Cajanus cajan × Atylosia lineata, C. cajan × A. sericea and C. cajan × A. scarabaeoides. The frequency of certain bivalent combinations forming stars was found to be higher than others, thereby, indicating the non-random nature of this phenomenon. Although no hexavalents, octovalents or more than one quadrivalent per cell during diakinesis and metaphase-I were observed, as were to be expected on the basis of the data obtained on the number of arms involved in the star-formations and the number of stars per cell at pachytene, the possibility that these stars are the result of reciprocal translocations cannot be ruled out. A definite relationship between the number of cells showing these star formations at pachytene and the number of cells showing bivalent associations at diakinesis and metaphase I on the one hand, and between the number of arms involved the stars and the number of chromosomes involved in each association on the other, signify that these stars are forerunners of secondary associations.
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Reddy, L. Fusion of centromeres and star formatons at pachytene of Cajanus × Atylosia hybrids. Heredity 53, 435–439 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1984.100
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.1984.100