Restriction of ectopic recombination by interhomolog interactions during Saccharomyces cerevisiae meiosis

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae meiosis, recombination occurs frequently between sequences at the same location on homologs (allelic recombination) and can take place between dispersed homologous sequences (ectopic recombination). Ectopic recombination occurs less often than does allelic, especially when homologous sequences are on heterologous chromosomes. To account for this, it has been suggested that homolog pairing (homolog colocalization and alignment) either promotes allelic recombination or restricts ectopic recombination. The latter suggestion was tested by examining ectopic recombination in two cases where normal interhomolog relationships are disrupted. In the first case, one member of a homolog pair was replaced by a homoeologous (related but not identical) chromosome that has diverged sufficiently to prevent allelic recombination. In the second case, ndj1 mutants were used to delay homolog pairing and synapsis. Both circumstances resulted in a substantial increase in the frequency of ectopic recombination between arg4-containing plasmid inserts located on heterologous chromosomes. These findings suggest that, during normal yeast meiosis, progressive homolog colocalization, alignment, synapsis, and allelic recombination restrict the ability of ectopically located sequences to find each other and recombine. In the absence of such restrictions, the meiotic homology search may encompass the entire genome.