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. 1990 Dec;126(4):851–867. doi: 10.1093/genetics/126.4.851

Gene Conversion Tracts Stimulated by Hot1-Promoted Transcription Are Long and Continuous

K Voelkel-Meiman 1, G S Roeder 1
PMCID: PMC1204283  PMID: 2076817

Abstract

The recombination-stimulating sequence, HOT1, corresponds to the promoter of transcription by yeast RNA polymerase I. The effect of HOT1 on mitotic interchromosomal recombination was examined in diploid strains carrying a heterozygous URA3 gene on chromosome III. The frequency of Ura(-) recombinants was increased 20-fold when HOT1 was inserted into the chromosome III copy marked with URA3, at a location 48 kbp centromere-proximal to URA3. Ura(-) recombinants were increased only 2-fold when HOT1 and URA3 were on opposite homologues. These results suggest that most HOT1-promoted Ura(-) recombinants result from gene conversion and that sequences on the HOT1-containing chromosome are preferentially converted. Characterization of Ura(-) recombinants isolated from strains carrying multiple markers on chromosome III indicates that HOT1-promoted gene conversion tracts are unusually long (often>75 kbp) and almost always continuous. Furthermore, conversion tracts frequently extend to both sides of HOT1. We suggest that HOT1 promotes the formation of a double-strand break which is often followed by exonucleolytic digestion. Repair of the broken chromosome could then result from gap repair or from replicative repair primed only by the centromere-containing chromosomal fragment.

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Selected References

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