Initiation of meiotic recombination in mammals

Meiotic recombination is initiated by the induction of programmed DNA double strand breaks (DSBs). DSB repair promotes homologous interactions and pairing and leads to the formation of crossovers (COs), which are required for the proper reductional segregation at the first meiotic division. In mammals, several hundred DSBs are generated at the beginning of meiotic prophase by the catalytic activity of SPO11. Currently it is not well understood how the frequency and timing of DSB formation and their localization are regulated. Several approaches in humans and mice have provided an extensive description of the localization of initiation events based on CO mapping, leading to the identification and characterization of preferred sites (hotspots) of initiation. This review presents the current knowledge about the proteins known to be involved in this process, the sites where initiation takes place, and the factors that control hotspot localization.