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Holliday model of recombination

Nature Structural Biology volume 6, pages 908–909 (1999)Cite this article

The structure of an all-DNA four-way junction is presented on page 913 of this issue of Nature Structural Biology and is discussed in the News and Views report on page 897. The historical interest of such structures stems directly from the challenge of uncovering the mechanisms of genetic recombination and, in particular, of explaining a complex genetic phenomenon — the aberrant segregation of alleles.

Aberrant segregation was first clearly noted in the 1950s in genetic studies of certain fungi that allow direct examination of their four haploid products of meiosis. Normally in these fungi, a heterozygous locus yields a 2:2 ratio of products (for example, 2 wild type and two mutant alleles). However in some cases, an aberrant segregation ratio, such as 3:1 or 4:0, can occur — a phenomenon known as gene conversion.

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Figure 1: Holliday's proposal for the intermediate in genetic recombination.

References

  1. Holliday, R. A mechanism for gene conversion in fungi. Genet. Res. 5, 282–304 (1964).

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  2. Meselson, M.S. & Radding, C.M. A general model for genetic recombination. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 72, 358– 361 (1975).

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  3. Szostak, J.W., Orr-Weaver, T.L., Rothstein, R.J. & Stahl, F.W. The double-strand-break repair model for recombination. Cell 33, 25–35 (1983).

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  1. Tracy Smith

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Smith, T. Holliday model of recombination. Nat Struct Mol Biol 6, 908–909 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/13269

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