Clonal reproduction assured by sister chromosome pairing in dojo loach, a teleost fish

Wild-type dojo loach (Misgurnus anguillicaudatus) commonly reproduces bisexually as a gonochoristic diploid (2n = 50), but gynogenetically reproducing clonal diploid lines (2n = 50) exist in certain districts in Japan. Clones have been considered to develop from past hybridization event(s) between two genetically diverse groups, A and B, within the species. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analyses using the repetitive sequence "ManDra" as a probe clearly distinguished 25 chromosomes derived from group B out of a total of 50 diploid chromosomes of the clone, providing strong molecular cytogenetic evidence of its hybrid origin. In meiosis, diploid wild-type showed 25 bivalents, while diploid clones revealed 50 bivalents, indicating the presence of 100 chromosomes. In meiotic chromosome spreads in sex-reversed clonal males, ManDra signals were detected in 25 out of 50 bivalents, and only one out of two bivalents possessing major ribosomal RNA coding regions exhibited two positive ManDra signals. In clonal females, ManDra signals were detected in approximately 25 out of 50 bivalents. Thus, unreduced gametes should be generated by the pairing between sister chromosomes doubled from each ancestral chromosome from the different groups by premeiotic endomitosis. Sister chromosome pairing should assure production of unreduced isogenic clonal gametes due to the absence of the influence of recombination or crossing over.