Evolutionary conservation of meiotic DSB proteins: more than just Spo11 |
| |
| Authors: | Francesca Cole Scott Keeney Maria Jasin |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1.Developmental Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA;;2.Molecular Biology Program, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | Meiotic recombination is initiated by programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) generated by the Spo11 protein. In budding yeast, five other meiotic-specific proteins are also required for DSB formation, but, with rare exception, orthologs had not been identified in other species. In this issue of Genes & Development, Kumar and colleagues (pp. 1266–1280) used a phylogenomic approach to identify two of these proteins across multiple clades, and confirmed that one of these, MEI4, is a functional ortholog in mouse. |
| |
| Keywords: | Meiosis recombination double-strand break |
|
|
