Crossover formation between homologous chromosomes is essential for the proper segregation of chromosomes and also for the generation of genetic diversity1. Errors in crossover formation cause aneuploidy, which can lead to infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects2. Crossover frequency varies by chromosome region, mutant type, age, and sex, underscoring the need to accurately measure crossover frequency under each of these conditions3,4,5. The overall goal of this method is to accurately measure the crossover frequency of each chromosomal domain and thereby accurately determine the distribution of crossovers over the entire length of the C. elegans chromosome.
Traditionally, two-point mapping using morphological markers has been used to measure crossover frequency6,7,8,9,10. In C. elegans, dumpy, short, fat body (Dpy) and uncoordinated movement (Unc) phenotypes are often used to create chromosome maps6. The advantages of this method are its low cost and ability to analyze many progenies. The disadvantages of these methods include the limitation of choosing the loci of interest and the inability to use lethal progenies because their phenotypes are not visible. In order to overcome the inconvenience of site choice, Tc1 transposons have been used as markers for polymorphic sequence-tagged sites (STS)11,12. Tc1s can be detected using PCR and electrophoresis. While the standard Bristol N2 strain had 30 copies of the Tc1 transposon, the C. elegans isolates from Bergerac in France (RW7000 and DP13) had 500 copies of Tc1. Thus, the number and distribution of Tc1 transposons vary among isolates, and this is used to analyze the chromosomes of the progeny of hybrid worms between isolates by PCR. Subsequently, SNPs were also used to measure crossover frequency and distribution13,14. The SNP between the Bristol N2 and Hawaiian CB4856 strains appeared every 1,000 bp15,16. SNPs are detected as restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLP) using PCR, restriction digestion, and electrophoresis. Recently, small insertion/deletion (InDel) sites as well as SNPs between Bristol N2 and Hawaiian CB4856 have been proposed as more efficient markers17. However, measuring crossover frequency using Tc1, RFLP, and InDel requires labor-intensive processes such as PCR, restriction enzyme treatment, and electrophoresis. If each process is not optimized in a large-scale analysis, the results may be misinterpreted due to factors such as the accuracy of PCR, the type of restriction enzyme used, the efficiency of DNA cleavage, and the clarity and separation of bands during electrophoresis. In contrast, the proposed method utilizes SNP genotyping by real-time PCR to facilitate accurate and precise quantification.
Crossovers are not randomly distributed along chromosomes. In C. elegans, single crossovers tend to form more frequently in the arms and are suppressed in the center3,5. Morphological two-point mapping cannot identify where crossovers occur outside of marker genes. Conversely, SNP mapping allows for an increase in markers and has been shown to facilitate the determination of the exact region of a crossover along the entire chromosome5,14,18. In this study, we employed the chromosomal domain boundaries proposed by Rockman and Kruyglyak5 and selected four SNPs for analysis: at both ends of the chromosome, and at both ends of the center/arm boundaries.
By taking advantage of the previous methods, we proposed an accurate and rapid SNP detection method by real-time PCR using TaqMan, 5' nuclease19 to measure the crossover among the left arm, center, and right arm of each chromosome. The advantages of our method over alternative technologies, as compared to prior studies20,21,22, are accuracy and simplicity. This method is a qPCR-applied crossover analysis method for C. elegans and is widely suitable for researchers studying meiosis.