Open AccessThe Drosophila meiotic recombination gene mei-9 encodes a homologue of the yeast excision repair protein Rad1.
Author(s) -
Jeff Sekelsky,
Kim S. McKim,
Gregory M. Chin,
R. Scott Hawley
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.792
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1943-2631
pISSN - 0016-6731
DOI - 10.1093/genetics/141.2.619
Subject(s) - biology , flp frt recombination , homologous recombination , genetics , saccharomyces cerevisiae , gene , nucleotide excision repair , gene conversion , dna repair , mitotic crossover , meiosis , genetic recombination , drosophila melanogaster , recombination , mutant
Meiotic recombination and DNA repair are mediated by overlapping sets of genes. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, many genes required to repair DNA double-strand breaks are also required for meiotic recombination. In contrast, mutations in genes required for nucleotide excision repair (NER) have no detectable effects on meiotic recombination in S. cerevisiae. The Drosophila melanogaster mei-9 gene is unique among known recombination genes in that it is required for both meiotic recombination and NER. We have analyzed the mei-9 gene at the molecular level and found that it encodes a homologue of the S. cerevisiae excision repair protein Rad1, the probable homologue of mammalian XPF/ERCC4. Hence, the predominant process of meiotic recombination in Drosophila proceeds through a pathway that is at least partially distinct from that of S. cerevisiae, in that it requires an NER protein. The biochemical properties of the Rad1 protein allow us to explain the observation that mei-9 mutants suppress reciprocal exchange without suppressing the frequency of gene conversion.