Comprehensive, fine-scale dissection of homologous recombination outcomes at a hot spot in mouse meiosis

In mammalian meiosis, only a small fraction of programmed DNA double-strand breaks are repaired as interhomolog crossovers (COs). To analyze another product of meiotic recombination, interhomolog noncrossovers (NCOs), we performed high-resolution mapping of recombination events at an intensely active mouse hot spot in F1 hybrids derived from inbred mouse strains. We provide direct evidence that the vast majority of repair events are interhomolog NCOs, consistent with models in which frequent interhomolog interactions promote accurate chromosome pairing. NCOs peaked at the center of the hot spot but were also broadly distributed throughout. In some hybrid strains, localized zones within the hot spot were highly refractory to COs and showed elevated frequency of coconversion of adjacent polymorphisms in NCOs, raising the possibility of double-strand gap repair. Transmission distortion was observed in one hybrid, with NCOs providing a significant contribution. Thus, NCO recombination events play a substantial role in mammalian meiosis and genome evolution.