Highlight Photo
Understanding mating determination in Tetrahymena thermophila
Gene excision via circle formation as a mechanism for mating type determination
During development of a new somatic nucleus from a a germline nucleus, all but one mating type gene is removed. In the figure, the colored regions represent the variable region for each mating type gene, and the grey ends represent the conserved regions. In this model, circles are formed by recombination between the highly conserved right (dark grey) and left (light grey) regions. Homologous recombination is thus able to remove genes one at a time from either end, until only one is remaining.
Credits: Marcella Cervantes
