Contributions of classical and molecular cytogenetic in meiotic analysis and pollen viability for plant breeding

The analysis of meiotic behavior has been widely used in the study of plants as they provide relevant information about the viability of a species. Meiosis boasts a host of highly conserved events and changes in genes that control these events will give rise to irregularities that can alter the normal course of meiosis and may lead to complete sterility of the plant. The recombination of genes that occur in meiosis is an important event to generate variability and has been important in studies for genetic improvement and to create viable hybrids. The use of fluorescence in situ hybridization and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) in meiosis allows the localization of specific regions, enables to differentiate genomes in a hybrid, permits to observe the pairing of homoeologous chromosomes, and if there was a recombination between the genomes of progenitor species. Furthermore, the GISH allows us to observe the close relationship between the species involved. This article aims to report over meiosis studies on plants and hybrids, the use and importance of molecular cytogenetic in meiotic analysis and contributions of meiotic analysis in breeding programs.