title: Meiotic double-strand breaks in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
abstract: Meiotic DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are associated with recombination hot spots in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and are believed to initiate the process of recombination. Until now, meiosis-induced breaks have not been shown to occur regularly in other organisms. Here we show, by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of DNA, that meiotic DSBs occur transiently in all three chromosomes of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In a repair defective mutant, carrying a mutation in the RecA homolog gene rhp51, meiotic DSBs accumulate. In contrast to expectation from the genetic map of S. pombe, however, many chromosomal DNA molecules remain unbroken during meiosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zenvirth
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Simchen
mesh_terms: D015825:Chromosomes, Fungal / Q000235:genetics; D004260:DNA Repair; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase; D011938:Rec A Recombinases / Q000235:genetics; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics*; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; C084232:RHP51 protein, S pombe; D029702:Schizosaccharomyces pombe Proteins; D051135:Rad51 Recombinase; D011938:Rec A Recombinases