The native arrangement of rfk-1 protects it from meiotic silencing by unpaired DNA. (A) Interval AH36 spans the right border of Sk-2 (marked by a black dotted line). An hph marker was placed immediately to the right of AH36 in an Sk-2 strain (with vector v140) to create the v140Δ::hph allele. An hph marker was also placed at the corresponding location in an SkS strain (with vector v150) to create the v150Δ::hph allele. (B–D) Crosses were performed to determine the effect of each allele on spore killing. Images depict asci from the following crosses: (B) F2-23 × ISU-4344, (C) ISU-4348 × ISU-4344, and (D) ISU-3036 × ISU-4344. B, black; hph, hygromycin resistance cassette; W, white.