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Updated: Jun 9, 2026

Preparation of Meiotic Chromosome Spreads from Mouse Oocytes for Assessment of Synapsis and Recombination
Published on: July 18, 2025
PRDM9 variation strongly influences recombination hot-spot activity and meiotic instability in humans
Ingrid L Berg1, Rita Neumann, Kwan-Wood G Lam
1Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK.
Abstract:
PRDM9 has recently been identified as a likely trans regulator of meiotic recombination hot spots in humans and mice. PRDM9 contains a zinc finger array that, in humans, can recognize a short sequence motif associated with hot spots, with binding to this motif possibly triggering hot-spot activity via chromatin remodeling. We now report that human genetic variation at the PRDM9 locus has a strong effect on sperm hot-spot activity, even at hot spots lacking the sequence motif. Subtle changes within the zinc finger array can create hot-spot nonactivating or enhancing variants and can even trigger the appearance of a new hot spot, suggesting that PRDM9 is a major global regulator of hot spots in humans. Variation at the PRDM9 locus also influences aspects of genome instability-specifically, a megabase-scale rearrangement underlying two genomic disorders as well as minisatellite instability-implicating PRDM9 as a risk factor for some pathological genome rearrangements.
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