Genetic reporters to detect and quantify homologous recombination in yeast

Homologous recombination is a conserved process that cells use to repair damaged DNA. Many genetic assays have been developed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to measure and characterize different types of recombination events, as well as identify proteins acting in such recombination events. Here, we describe two intrachromosomal reporters that utilize ade2 heteroalleles, whereby homologous recombination can be detected by colony color and adenine prototrophy. We detail the use of these reporters to measure recombination frequency, as well as to characterize the types of recombination events.