This study shows that Rhynchospora tenuis undergoes obligate achiasmy in both sexes, leading to clonal-like inheritance through post-meiotic selection and TE-driven segregation distortion.

bioRxiv · Jan 22, 2026 · PreprintEvolutionary Biology

A holocentric pangenome links karyotype evolution to meiotic recombination

Meng Zhang, Stefan Steckenborn, Marco Castellani, Laia Marín-Gual, Amanda Souza Câmara, Laura Ávila Robledillo, Letícia Maria Parteka, Nafiseh Sargheini, Magdalena Marek, Eduardo Chacón Madrigal, Andrés Gatica Arias, Leonardo P. Félix, Wayt Thomas, Bruno Hüettel, Andrea Pedrosa‐Harand, , André Marques

The paper links karyotype evolution to meiotic recombination by analyzing holocentric genomes and crossover patterns in Rhynchospora species.

bioRxiv · Jan 21, 2026 · PreprintGenomics

Pangenome analysis reveals the evolutionary dynamics of repeat-based holocentromeres

Piotr Włodzimierz, Estela Pérez-Román, Amanda Souza Câmara, Laura Ávila Robledillo, Gokilavani Thangavel, Meng Zhang, Jacob Gonzalez Isa, Letícia Maria Parteka, Marco Castellani, Bruno Hüettel, André Luís Laforga Vanzela, Ian R. Henderson, Alexandros Bousios, André Marques

The paper analyzes Tyba satellite DNA repeats and transposable elements in holocentric species to reveal evolutionary dynamics of repeat-based holocentromeres across a pangenome.

bioRxiv · Jan 18, 2026 · PreprintGenomics

Meiotic recombination dynamics in plants with repeat-based holocentromeres shed light on the primary drivers of crossover patterning

Marco Castellani, Meng Zhang, Gokilavani Thangavel, Yennifer Mata‐Sucre, Thomas M. Lux, José Antonio Campoy, Magdalena Marek, Bruno Hüettel, Hequan Sun, Klaus Mayer, Korbinian Schneeberger, André Marques

The paper investigates meiotic recombination dynamics in a holocentric plant, finding that telomere-led pairing drives a U-shaped crossover distribution, independent of centromere organisation.

Nature Plants · Feb 9, 2024Peer-reviewedGenomics