This volume offers an extensive array of reviews on the roles of DNA repair proteins in meiotic recombination. The use of various organisms serves to underscore the marked degree of conservation of these processes among sexually reproducing organisms, but also highlights more subtle species-specific adaptations to meiotic recombination. Contributed by leaders in the field, each chapter reflects the current state of their research and also provides a forum for new ideas and concepts in meiotic recombination. By focussing on different pathways involved in meiosis and recombination, this volume highlights the complexity of these processes and demonstrates how much has been learned in recent years as a result of the multiple approaches to studying these events in various model organisms. Geneticists, cytogeneticists, developmental biologists, and those involved in research on infertility and germ cell biology will find much to interest them in this outstanding collection of reviews.

Meiosis is one of the most critical processes in eukaryotes, required for continuation of species and generation of new variation. In plants, meiotic recombination is by far the most important source of genetic variation. In Plant Meiosis: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail methods for molecular cytogenetics and chromosome analysis in plants. These state-of -the-art protocols allow studying the organization and behavior of the genetic material in a wide range of both model and crop species. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular BiologyTMseries format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step and readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and practical, Plant Meiosis: Methods and Protocols provides and extensive list of protocols developed and used in a number of laboratories at the cutting edge of meiosis and chromosome research.