DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Genetic Basis of Recombination Rate Variation in House Mice

减数分裂是一种特殊的细胞分裂，产生精子和卵细胞，这些细胞的DNA含量只有身体其他细胞的一半。重组发生在减数分裂开始时，对DNA分裂成精子和卵细胞特别重要。在重组过程中，具有高序列相似性的染色体成为物理连接并交换其遗传物质的片段。重组的频率和重组事件沿成对染色体的位置在个体之间是高度可变的。本研究将以家鼠为模型系统，结合分子遗传学方法和新技术对减数分裂细胞和介导重组的细胞蛋白进行成像，以确定减数分裂过程中控制重组数量和染色体位置的遗传因素。这个项目将为本科生提供研究机会，并将支持继续训练一名女研究生学习数量和统计方法，这是妇女代表性不足的遗传学领域。此外，该项目将促进统计学家、进化生物学家和分子生物学家之间的多学科合作。最后，了解重组变异的遗传基础对健康有重要的应用。异常重组与不孕症和不育有关，确定导致重组变异的基因对这些挑战具有潜在的应用价值。

Meiosis is a specialized cell division that gives rise to sperm and egg cells that bear half the amount of DNA as other cells in the body. Recombination occurs at the onset of meiosis and is particularly important to the partitioning of DNA into sperm and egg cells. During recombination, chromosomes with high sequence similarity become physically joined and swap pieces of their genetic material. The frequency of recombination and the placement of recombination events along paired chromosomes are highly variable among individuals. Using the house mouse as a model system, this research will combine molecular genetic methods with new techniques for imaging cells undergoing meiosis and the cellular proteins that mediate recombination to identify the genetic factors that control the amounts and chromosomal locations of recombination during meiosis. This project will provide research opportunities for undergraduate students and will support the continued training of a female graduate student in quantitative and statistical methods, an area of genetics in which women are under-represented. Additionally, this project will promote multidisciplinary collaboration among statisticians, evolutionary biologists, and molecular biologists. Finally, understanding the genetic basis of variation in recombination has important applications for health. Aberrant recombination is linked to infertility and sterility, and identifying the genes that contribute to variation in recombination has potential application to these challenges.