Homologous recombination plays two important roles in the life cycle of most organisms.
Recombination generates diversity by creating new combinations of genes, or parts of genes.
It is also required for genome stability as it is essential for the repair of some types of DNA lesions in mitotic cells and for segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. The importance of the latter functions is evidenced by increased mutagenesis, and mitotic and meiotic aneuploidy in the absence of recombination functions. Since genetic diseases, such as colon cancer and fragile X syndrome, are associated with increased genome instability, an understanding of the mechanisms of recombination is likely to be important in understanding these diseases. Because of its theoretical and practical importance I am interested in understanding the mechanism of this fundamental cellular process. The long-term objective of my research is to identify the proteins that catalyze homologous recombination in eukaryotes.