Genetic recombination is directed away from functional genomic elements in mice

Comparison of Prdm9−/− and wild-type mice reveals a role for the PRDM9 protein in directing the recombination machinery away from important genomic regions. PRDM9, a histone H3 methyltransferase, is thought to determine the location of recombination hotspots through sequence-specific binding. By genome-wide mapping of hotspots in mice that carry different Prdm9 alleles, Galina Petukhova and colleagues conclude that PRDM9 determines the positions...