Mechanism and Control of Meiotic Recombination

In the past, my group has studied homologous recombination and chromosome structural changes that occur during meiosis, using budding yeast as a model system. Recombination, and in particular the crossover products of recombination, are essential for proper chromosome segregation during meiosis. Chromosome mis-segregation caused by defects in meiotic recombination leads to chromosome imbalance in gametes, and these chromosome imbalances are a leading cause of infertility and birth defects in modern human populations. Because meiosis is an excellent model system to study homologous recombination, our findings also have provided insight into mechanisms by which DNA damage is repaired and genome integrity is maintained during the mitotic cell cycle. My aim, in continuing as an emeritus researcher, is to contribute to the description of the molecular steps of meiotic recombination, and how they are regulated in parallel with changes in chromosome structure and with cell cycle transitions that occur during meiosis.