The Genetics of Genetics: Genes Controlling Recombination in Maize

染色体之间的同源重组是遗传变异的基本来源，也是几乎所有遗传学和育种的基础。减数分裂重组还允许构建遗传图谱，这对于从标记辅助选择到基于图谱的有价值基因克隆等应用都很重要。值得注意的是，尽管同源重组对遗传学至关重要，但人们对高等植物的同源重组过程知之甚少，更不知道它是如何被控制的。这是对玉米减数分裂重组过程的全面研究，玉米是美国最大的农作物，也是这些研究的独特适合的模型系统。这项研究的范围很广，从发现参与过程的新基因到交叉机制和蛋白质复合物进行重组事件的电子显微镜。本研究将直接增进对植物基因组如何产生和维持多样性、植物基因组如何组织以及植物基因组组织如何影响重组结果的理解。其目标还在于开发一种资源，为未来所有植物重组研究奠定基础。

Homologous recombination between chromosomes is a fundamental source of genetic variation and the basis of nearly all genetics and breeding. Meiotic recombination also permits construction of genetic maps, important for applications ranging from marker-assisted selection to map-based cloning of valuable genes. Remarkably, despite its central importance to genetics, little is known about the process of homologous recombination in higher plants, and even less about how it is controlled. This is a comprehensive study of the meiotic recombination process in maize, the largest agricultural crop in the U.S. and a uniquely suited model system for these studies. The study is broad in scope, from discovering new genes involved in the process to mechanisms of crossing over and electron microscopy of protein complexes carrying out recombination events. This research will directly enhance understanding of how plant genomes generate and maintain diversity, how plant genomes are organized and how plant genome organization can influence recombination outcomes. The goal is also to develop a resource on which the community can base future studies of recombination in all plants.