Meiotic Surface-Spread and Immunodetection for Synaptonemal Complex Proteins in Teleost Fish

Studies of meiotic chromosomes provide important information about the behavior and the formation of sex chromosomes, origin and evolution of supernumerary chromosomes, and chromosomal rearrangements involved in the karyotype evolution. The protocol of meiotic chromosome preparations for synaptonemal complex analysis in teleost fi sh presented in this chapter is based on methods described by Van Eenennaam et al. (1998) and Ocalewicz et al. (2009) with modifi cations. The implementation of this protocol allows the application of several techniques, such as chromosome banding, FISH and immunodetection, once the chromatin of the bivalent chromosomes is preserved (for example see Fig. 1 ). It also allows independently identifying the central or the lateral elements of the synaptonemal complex by using different immuno-fl uorescent probes. The greatest challenge for the success of this technique is the need to understand the reproductive cycle and the biology of the species studied to know at which maturity stage it is possible to obtain the synaptonemal complex.