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Abstract:
Meiotic crossovers, which are exchanges of genetic material between homologous chro-mosomes, are more evenly and distantly spaced along chromosomes than expected by chance. This is because the occurrence of one crossover reduces the likelihood of nearby crossover events - a conserved and intriguing phenomenon called crossover interference. Although crossover interference was first described over a century ago, the mechanism allowing coordination of the fate of potential crossover sites half a chromo-some away remains elusive. In this review, we discuss the recently published evidence supporting a new model for crossover patterning, coined the coarsening model, and point out the missing pieces that are still needed to complete this fascinating puzzle.
