We are interested in understanding how meiotic recombination is regulated.  During meiosis, chromosomes are replicated and undergo an elaborate dance in which homologous chromosomes pair and exchange material, a process known as recombination. Failure to execute recombination leads to chromosome missegregation at meiosis I and results in aneuploidy.

In most eukaryotes, a limited number of crossovers per chromosome (1 to 3) are made despite large differences chromosome size.  If the regulation of these events were random, one would expect to see a significant number of noncrossover chromosomes.  In fact, these are very rare, suggesting that recombination is tightly regulated to ensure that each chromosome pair gets at least one crossover each meiosis.

Our laboratory uses the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate the regulatory mechanisms that ensure proper meiotic recombination.  We are undertaking a genome-wide screen for trans-acting factors that alter the frequency of recombination. We are also trying to identify and characterize genetic hotspots—the cis sites that promote crossover formation.