Meiotic recombination initiates with DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) made by Spo11. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, many DSBs occur in "hotspots" coinciding with nucleosome-depleted gene promoters. Transcription factors (TFs) stimulate DSB formation in some hotspots, but TF roles are complex and variable between locations. Until now, available data for TF effects on global DSB patterns were of low...

Two BRCA2-like sequences are present in the Arabidopsis genome. Both genes are expressed in flower buds and encode nearly identical proteins, which contain four BRC motifs. In a yeast two-hybrid assay, the Arabidopsis Brca2 proteins interact with Rad51 and Dmc1. RNAi constructs aimed at silencing the BRCA2 genes at meiosis triggered a reproducible sterility phenotype, which was associated with ...

In situ hybridization was used to examine chromosome behavior at meiotic prophase in the rad50S, hop1, rad50, and spo11 mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which are defective in chromosome synapsis and meiotic recombination. Painting of chromosomes I and III revealed that chromosome condensation and pairing are reduced in these mutants. However, there is some residual pairing in meiosis, sugg...

Spo11 or a homologous protein appears to be essential for meiotic DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation and recombination in all organisms tested. We report here the first example of an alternative, mutationally activated pathway for meiotic recombination in the absence of Rec12, the Spo11 homolog of Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Rad2, a FEN-1 flap endonuclease homolog, is involved in processing...

Meiotic recombination between homologous chromosomes initiates via programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), generated by complexes comprising Spo11 transesterase plus accessory proteins. DSBs arise concomitantly with the development of axial chromosome structures, where the coalescence of axis sites produces linear arrays of chromatin loops. Recombining DNA sequences map to loops, but are ul...

(2007) Mapping meiotic single-strand dna reveals a new landscape of DNA double-strand breaks in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLoS Biol 5(12): e324. Two figure legends refer to the wrong strain of yeast. In Figure 2, the second sentence of (B) should say: Spo11 enrichment ratios for rad50S (MJL2404) were determined from input samples and immunoprecipitates (ChIP). In Figure 3, the first sentence sh...