Analyzing Meiotic DSB Interference by Combining Southern Blotting and Microarray Analysis Hiroshi Toyoizumi

Abstract—It is well-known that crossover formation events on a chromosome interfere with each other during meiosis, and this interference affects the distribution of genetic exchanges on a chromosome in sexual reproduction. However, due to the technical difficulties, it is unknown if meiotic double strand break (DSB) formation, the initiating event of meiotic recombination, shows interference. We discuss a method that employs probability theory of survival analysis in conjunction with: chromosome fragment distribution, detected by Southern blotting; and genome-wide DSB intensity maps, obtained by microarray analysis. We show that this method is a promising tool to analyse DSB interference. Keywords-meiosis; DSB; Southern blotting; crossover inter-ference; non-homogenous Poisson process; survival analysis