Double-strand break-induced mitotic intrachromosomal recombination in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Abstract

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae HO gene and MATa cutting site were used to introduce site-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) within intrachromosomal recombination substrates in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. The recombination substrates consisted of nontandem direct repeats of ade6 heteroalleles. DSB induction stimulated the frequency of recombinants 2000-fold. The spectrum of DSB-induced recombinants depended on whether the DSB was introduced within one of the ade6 repeats or in intervening unique DNA. When the DSB was introduced within unique DNA, over 99.8% of the recombinants lacked the intervening DNA but retained one copy of ade6 that was wild type or either one of the heteroalleles. When the DSB was located in duplicated DNA, 77% of the recombinants were similar to the deletion types described above, but the single ade6 copy was either wild type or exclusively that of the uncut repeat. The remaining 23% of the induced recombinants were gene convertants with two copies of ade6 and the intervening sequences; the ade6 heteroallele in which the DSB was induced was the recipient of genetic information. Half-sectored colonies were isolated, analyzed and interpreted as evidence of heteroduplex DNA formation. The results are discussed in terms of current models for recombination.