Research Group Meiotic Recombination and Genome Instability
The ‘Meiotic Recombination and Genomic Instability’ research group investigates how genetic information is precisely recombined during meiosis and how these processes influence fertility, genome evolution and reproductive isolation.
At the heart of our research is the question of how recombination events in the genome are controlled, how erroneous recombination is detected and prevented, and how these mechanisms have changed over the course of evolution. Although meiosis is a fundamental prerequisite for sexual reproduction, the molecular mechanisms of recombination control and meiotic quality control remain among the least understood processes in vertebrate biology.
Our work combines molecular genetics, evolutionary biology, bioinformatics and reproductive medicine. We analyse de novo recombination events directly in germ cells, develop new computer-aided methods for investigating highly variable genomic regions, and compare recombination mechanisms across different vertebrate species.
A particular focus is on the evolution of recombination landscapes and meiotic control systems. Our research has demonstrated that recombination mechanisms are evolutionarily much more dynamic than previously thought, and that regulatory RNA molecules are actively involved in controlling meiotic quality control mechanisms.
Furthermore, we investigate how different organisms have developed alternative pathways to maintain fertility and genomic stability even following profound evolutionary changes to key recombination mechanisms.
The research group has been supported by the Max Planck Society, the IMPRS for Evolutionary Biology, and project grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG), including the projects ‘Meiotic recombination regulation – in functional meiosis and in hybrid sterility’ and ‘Reactivation of ancestral recombination mechanisms in vertebrates’.
- DFG project: Meiotic recombination regulation
- DFG project: Reactivation of ancestral recombination mechanisms in vertebrates, as well as by the German National Academic Foundation.