Sex and Sensitivity: The Infidelity of Homologous Recombination

J. Stavans (Weizmann Institute, Israel)

Abstract:

Homologous recombination plays a key role in the evolution of
organisms, from bacteria to man. While recombination generates genetic
diversity by reshuffling genes and enabling the import of new ones, it
must maintain at the same time the functionality of proteins. After an
introduction to recombination and its biological significance, I will
address two outstanding physics problems: first, how does a small
tract of DNA entering a cell find the address of an homologous segment
along a genome within a short time, and second, what is the accuracy
or fidelity of molecular recognition.