Abstract
In order to complete synapsis between homologs at meiosis, the chromosomes have to go through several steps, such as telomere clustering, homolog pairing, initiation of meiotic recombination, assembly of synaptonemal complex, formation of chiasma and so on. We examined the behavior of chromosomes at male meiosis of Arabidopsis thaliana using FISH method. We could confirm the telomere clustering around the nucleoli at premeiotic interphase. The telomeric regions were observed to pair statistically earlier than the centromeric regions, but the pairing did not always begin at telomeres. At early prophase, the number of signals from telomeres decreased to about five. The signals from the probes specific to subtelomeric regions of chromosome I or III respectively were found in close proximity in some cells. These results suggest that the telomeres of respective paired chromosomes bind with each other transiently at early prophase I.
