Recent advances in plant recombination

Recombination is an essential cellular process and a source of genetic diversity. Recent studies have demonstrated the effects of various factors (e.g. DNA sequence similarity and activation of transposons) on rates of recombination and the distribution of recombination breakpoints in plants. These studies have also provided detailed characterizations of interchromatid and interhomolog recombination events. New approaches offer the promise of achieving the long-awaited goal of gene targeting in plants.