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Meiotic double-strand breaks (DSBs) are generated by the evolutionarily conserved SPO11 complex in the context of chromatin loops that are organized along axial elements (AEs) of chromosomes. However, how DSBs are formed with respect to chromosome axes and the SPO11 complex remains unclear in plants. Here, we confirm that DSB and bivalent formation are defective in maize  spo11-1  mutants. Super-resolution microscopy demonstrates dynamic localization of SPO11-1 during recombination initiation, with variable numbers of SPO11-1 foci being distributed in nuclei but similar numbers of SPO11-1 foci being found on AEs. Notably, cytological analysis of  spo11-1  meiocytes revealed an aberrant AE structure. At leptotene, AEs of wild-type and  spo11-1  meiocytes were similarly curly and discontinuous. However, during early zygotene, wild-type AEs become uniform and exhibit shortened axes, whereas the elongated and curly AEs persisted in  spo11-1  mutants, suggesting that loss of SPO11-1 compromised AE structural maturation. Our results reveal an interesting relationship between SPO11-1 loading onto AEs and the conformational remodeling of AEs during recombination initiation.

Dynamic localization of SPO11-1 and conformational changes of meiotic axial elements during recombination initiation of maize meiosis