title: A mechanism for initiation of genetic recombination.
abstract: A mechanism for the initiation of genetic recombination is proposed. Its key features are the pairing, nicking, and cross-annealing of palindromic loops, i.e., structures formed by DNA with sequences of inverted complementary repeats. This mechanism may provide a simple, yet specific means of producing crossed strand connections between homologous DNA duplexes to form structures which can be intermediates in the process of genetic recombination.
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
chemical_list: D004247:DNA