Heritability And Biological Consequences Of Human Variation In Mitotic Recombination
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$130,906.00
Summary
Cells in our bodies constantly sustain damage to their genetic material (genes) most of which is efficiently repaired. Some is not and accumulated damage to genes in a cell can start a cancer. There are several repair mechanisms that cells possess which have evolved since the earliest life-forms. One repair mechanism homologous recombination repair will, as a minor by-product of its activity, produce an event called mitotic recombination (MR). MR causes a loss of diversity of genes and this can ....Cells in our bodies constantly sustain damage to their genetic material (genes) most of which is efficiently repaired. Some is not and accumulated damage to genes in a cell can start a cancer. There are several repair mechanisms that cells possess which have evolved since the earliest life-forms. One repair mechanism homologous recombination repair will, as a minor by-product of its activity, produce an event called mitotic recombination (MR). MR causes a loss of diversity of genes and this can contribute to cancer rather than prevent it. We have shown that the rate at which MR occurs varies very widely in humans. In this project we will devise a simple method for measuring MR, use identical and non identical twins to find if the rate of MR is inherited and finally see whether the rate of MR is associated with risk of cancer, as we expect.Read moreRead less
Meiotic recombination in Neurospora crassa: a model for the process in humans and other multicellular eukaryotes. Genes are shuffled by recombination during meiosis in the sexual cycle of higher organisms. This is best understood in yeast. Our findings show Neurospora recombination differs from yeast recombination. It is more tolerant of sequence mismatch, differs in the relative frequencies of gene conversion and crossing over, has frequently interrupted conversion tracts and has transacting ge ....Meiotic recombination in Neurospora crassa: a model for the process in humans and other multicellular eukaryotes. Genes are shuffled by recombination during meiosis in the sexual cycle of higher organisms. This is best understood in yeast. Our findings show Neurospora recombination differs from yeast recombination. It is more tolerant of sequence mismatch, differs in the relative frequencies of gene conversion and crossing over, has frequently interrupted conversion tracts and has transacting genes controlling recombination hotspot activity. We propose to genetically dissect Neurospora recombination which appears to be a closer model for recombination in humans and other higher eukaryotes, where understanding recombination can assist control of genetic disease, efficient breeding in agriculture and our understanding of evolution.Read moreRead less