Single-strand scissions of chromosomal DNA during commitment to recombination at meiosis

Diploid cells of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae induced to undergo meiosis accumulate single-strand scissions in both template and newly synthesized DNA during commitment to genetic recombination. No evidence for accumulation of double-strand breaks during meiosis was obtained. When commitment to recombination is at the full meiotic level there are approximately 70 to 200 single-strand scissions per meiotic cell in which approximately 150 recombination events have been reported to occur.