Recombination & Gene

Conversion

By:
S B Mirtza 1314
Bio-Informatics(A) 2007-2011

S B Mirza1314
 Introduction

Recombination results in Gene Conversion

during

• Meiosis Or

• Any event leading to Recombination e.g; DNA

Repair
S B Mirza1314
 Types Of Recombination:
There are two types of recombination:

• Non-Homologous Recombination: Results in the

insertion of new sequences or more frequently
deletion of a part.

• Homologous Recombination: Results in new

Recombinant and/or non-recombinant species
also know as General Recombination
S B Mirza1314
Non-Homologous Recombination Overview:

S B Mirza1314
Homologous Recombination Overview:

There are three uses of Homologous

Recombination in cells.

i. Accurately repairing double strand breaks.

ii. Handling fallen replication fork condition.
iii. Exchange bits of genetic information
between two different chromosomes.
S B Mirza1314
 Homologous
Recombination
Mechanism:

In this mechanism
double strand
breaks are
accurately repaired.

S B Mirza1314
Holliday junction

S B Mirza1314
 Effects of Recombination & Gene
Conversion
 
• In humans, each meiosis requires that the starting cell keep track of 92 chromatids, or
46 chromosomes resulting in four haploid sets.
• Mistakes are especially common in human female meiosis, which arrests for years after
diplotene: meiosis I is completed only at ovulation, and meiosis II only after the egg is
fertilized. Indeed, such chromosome segregation errors during egg development are the
commonest cause of both spontaneous abortion and mental retardation in humans.

• Non-disjunction, aneuploidy & euploidy.

• Down syndrome in humans, for example, which is the leading single cause of mental
retardation, is caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, usually resulting from non-
disjunction during meiosis I in the female ovary.
• Segregation errors during meiosis I increase greatly with advancing maternal age.
• Despite its fallibility, almost all eukaryotes use meiosis, intermittently at least, to shuffle
their genetic information before passing it on to the next generation.

S B Mirza1314
 …!
l ks
Fo
a ll
o u
k y
a n
Th
Questions???