BACKGROUND Alanced translocations are associated with infertility, spontaneous abortions and birth defects. METHODS We report the analysis, by multicolour fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), of meiotic segregation and aneuploidy of chromosomes X, Y, 7, 8 and 21 in sperm from three men who are carriers of two different translocations involving chromosomes 11 and 18. A control group comp...

We present an analysis of crossover interference in the mouse genome, on the basis of high-density genotype data from two reciprocal interspecific backcrosses, comprising 188 meioses. Overwhelming evidence was found for strong positive crossover interference with average strength greater than that implied by the Carter-Falconer map function. There was some evidence for interchromosomal variatio...

The spatial organization of the genome is thought to play an important part in the coordination of gene regulation. New techniques have been used to identify specific long-range interactions between distal DNA sequences, revealing an ever-increasing complexity to nuclear organization. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a versatile zinc finger protein with diverse regulatory functions. New data now ...

The non-recombining Y chromosome is expected to degenerate over evolutionary time, however, gene gain is a common feature of Y chromosomes of mammals and Drosophila. Here, we report that a large palindrome containing interchromosomal segmental duplications is located in the vicinity of the first amplicon detected in the Y chromosome of D. melanogaster. The recent appearance of such amplicons su...

Meiotic ectopic recombination occurs at similar frequencies among many sites in the yeast genome, suggesting that all loci are similarly accessible to homology searching. In contrast, we found that his3 sequences integrated in the RDN1 (rDNA) locus were unusually poor participants in meiotic recombination with his3 sequences at other sites. We show that the low rate of meiotic ectopic recombina...

Activation-induced deaminase initiates three different antibody diversification reactions: class switch recombination, somatic hypermutation (SHM), and gene conversion. We have shown that, in addition to antibody diversification, activation-induced deaminase can also initiate Burkitt's lymphoma-like c-myc/IgH translocations. However, distinct DNA damage- and oncogene-induced checkpoints operate...

CTCF is a highly conserved zinc finger protein implicated in diverse regulatory functions, including transcriptional activation/repression, insulation, imprinting, and X chromosome inactivation. Here we re-evaluate data supporting these roles in the context of mechanistic insights provided by recent genome-wide studies and highlight evidence for CTCF-mediated intra- and interchromosomal contact...

Balanced chromosomal rearrangements represent one of the most common forms of genetic abnormality affecting approximately 1 in every 500 (0.2%) individuals. Difficulties processing the abnormal chromosomes during meiosis lead to an elevated risk of chromosomally abnormal gametes, resulting in high rates of miscarriage and/or children with congenital abnormalities. It has also been suggested tha...