Banding studies and synaptonemal complex analysis of an X-autosome translocation in the domestic pig

In a litter of nine domestic pigs, a translocation between the X-chromosome and chromosome 13 was found in six individuals: four males and two females. The translocation was presumed to have originated in the dam. Banding studies indicated that the breaks preceding the translocation had occurred in a distal GTG-negative band of the long arm of the X, 15-30% of the length of Xq from the telomere, and proximally in chromosome 13, 15-25% from the centromere. The normal X of the females invariably replicated its DNA late. Synaptonemal complex analysis of spermatocytes demonstrated a quadrivalent in 75 of 85 analyzable cells (88.2%), and in 10 cells (11.8%) one trivalent and one univalent were found. Extensive nonhomologous pairings were visualized in the pachytene stage by applying an 'overlap' test measuring the sex chromosomes and collating their pairings. An arrest in male meiosis was verified histologically; no meiotic stages later than pachytene developed. This resulted in sterility, with considerable testicular hypoplasia. The records of female fertility were available only for the dam and did not show any deviations from the average of the herd.