Abstract
Initiation of genetic recombination at meiosis in Ascomycete fungi is thought to occur from fixed sites, at least in the majority of events. The simplest way to initiate recombination from fixed sites would be if an endonuclease recognized them and cut one strand of the DNA duplex to allow formation of asymmetric hybrid DNA, as proposed in the Meselson–Radding model of recombination1. However data from the Neurospora crassa his-3 gene2 and the conversion patterns of a mutation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe3 and one in Sordaria brevicollis4, require this idea of initiation to be modified. Here we propose a hypothesis of initiation that will accommodate these experimental observations, which involves the recognition of initiation sites by an endonuclease capable of migrating along a DNA duplex and that cuts in trans.
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Markham, P., Whitehouse, H. A hypothesis for the initiation of genetic recombination in eukaryotes. Nature 295, 421–423 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1038/295421a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/295421a0
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