Meiotic recombination involves the generation of double-strand breaks, that needs to be carefully controlled to avoid fetal aneuploidy. In worms and yeast, crossover numbers are constant regardless of the amount of double-strand breaks. Jasin and colleagues now show that such crossover homeostasis mechanisms exist at two stages in mammalian meiosis.
- Francesca Cole
- Liisa Kauppi
- Maria Jasin