Figure 3.

Two models of palindrome-mediated gross chromosomal rearrangement. (Left) A palindrome extrudes into a cruciform, which is cleaved by an HJ resolvase. The resultant nicks are ligated to form large hairpins. Replication of a hairpin can produce a giant (chromosome-size) palindrome. (Right) A DSB near a palindrome leads, by unwinding or degradation, to ssDNA, which can fold into a large hairpin and be converted into a giant palindrome as on the left. Other rearrangements of the large hairpin can give translocations or other gross chromosomal rearrangements. Figure courtesy of David Leach.