After the break: DSB end processing in mouse meiosis

Abstract

The exchange of genetic information between parental chromosomes in meiosis is an integral process for the creation of gametes. To generate a crossover, hundreds of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are introduced in the genome of each meiotic cell by the SPO11 protein. The nucleolytic resection of DSB-adjacent DNA is a key step in meiotic DSB repair, but this process has remained understudied. In this issue of Genes & Development, Yamada and colleagues (pp. 806-818) capture some of the first details of resection and DSB repair intermediates in mouse meiosis using a method that maps blunt-ended DNA after ssDNA digestion. This yields some of the first genome-wide insights into DSB resection and repair in a mammalian genome and offers a tantalizing glimpse of how to quantitatively dissect this difficult to study, yet integral, nuclear process.