Biology 1201A Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Meiosis
10 Dec 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
The basic mechanism of dna recombination in meiosis. Genetic recombination requires 2 dna molecules that differ from one another, a mechanism for bringing the dna molecules close together, and enzymes that can cut, exchange, and paste the dna back together. Sugar phosphate backbone is held together by strong covalent bonds, while the bases pair with their partner through weaker hydrogen bonds. Recombination often occurs between regions of dna that are not identical, but similar. The regions of dna that might be as short as a few base pairs, or as long as an entire chromosome, are called homologous. Homology allow different dna molecules to line up and recombine precisely. First homologous regions of dna pair, after which, enzymes break a covalent bond in each of the 4 sugar-phosphate backbones. Then the free ends of each backbone are exchanged and reattached to those of the other dna molecule, resulting in 2 recombined molecules.
