Gene conversion: observations on the DNA hybrid models

Abstract

SUMMARYSome features of gene conversion in fungi and their bearing on the hybrid DNA models are discussed. Available experimental data from tetrad analysis seem to give a more complex picture of polarity in intra-genic recombination and of the relations between conversion and post-meiotic segregation, and between conversion and crossing-over, than predicted by the models.A new hypothesis of the mechanism of gene conversion with special attention given to the aspect of asymmetry in this phenomenon is proposed as an alternative to the mechanism suggested by the DNA hybrid models.