Title: Investigating the mitotic role of rec in Drosophila melanogaster

(Research Advisor: Jeff Sekelsky, Mentor: Hunter Blanton)

Grace Wallenborn

Crossovers of DNA during meiosis act to ensure that each parent contributes one set of chromosomes containing an assortment of alleles of different genes.  Mitotic crossovers are much less common, and usually occur during repair of DNA damage.  We are investigating the mitotic role of rec, a protein needed to generate meiotic crossovers, in Drosophila melanogaster.  In wild type flies, mitotic crossovers are nearly absent.  In flies that are mutant for the gene mus309, the level of mitotic crossovers significantly increases.  We will compare values of mitotic crossovers in mus309 mutant flies with mus309 rec double mutant flies using two flanking markers, scarlet and ebony.  If rec is needed for all crossovers, the crossovers present in mus309 mutants should disappear in mus309 rec double mutants.  Understanding pathways of repair in fruit flies will eventually lead to a better understanding of human disorders associated with the inability to repair DNA.