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. 1991 Dec;129(4):1085–1098. doi: 10.1093/genetics/129.4.1085

Chromosome Rearrangement by Ectopic Recombination in Drosophila Melanogaster: Genome Structure and Evolution

E A Montgomery 1, S M Huang 1, C H Langley 1, B H Judd 1
PMCID: PMC1204773  PMID: 1783293

Abstract

Ectopic recombination between interspersed repeat sequences generates chromosomal rearrangements that have a major impact on genome structure. A survey of ectopic recombination in the region flanking the white locus of Drosophila melanogaster identified 25 transposon-mediated rearrangements from four parallel experiments. Eighteen of the 25 were generated from females carrying X chromosomes heterozygous for interspersed repeat sequences. The cytogenetic and molecular analyses of the rearrangements and the parental chromosomes show: (1) interchromosomal and intrachromosomal recombinants are generated in about equal numbers; (2) ectopic recombination appears to be a meiotic process that is stimulated by the interchromosomal effect to about the same degree as regular crossing over; (3) copies of the retrotransposon roo were involved in all of the interchromosomal exchanges; some copies were involved much more frequently than others in the target region; (4) homozygosis for interspersed repeat sequences and other sequence variations significantly reduced ectopic recombination.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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