Coming to grips with a complex matter. A multidisciplinary approach to the synaptonemal complex

Research into the synaptonemal complex (SC) is currently finding renewed interest. This is because the primarily cytological knowledge of the SC has been increasingly supplemented by immunochemical characterization and genetical studies over recent years. Moreover, yeast, offering one of the most handy and rewarding experimental systems, has joined the group of organisms in which the SC can be studied cytologically. In this essay I shall present aspects concerning the SC and its role in meiotic pairing that have emerged over the past few years, parts of which were discussed at a recent meeting in Obertraun, Austria.