Patterns of recombination in snakes reveal a tug-of-war between PRDM9 and promoter-like features. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38386752/)

These scientists wanted to understand how certain animals, like snakes, decide where their DNA mixes and matches to create new combinations. They knew that in some animals, a special protein called PRDM9 helps to guide this process. But in other animals, like birds and dogs, this protein is not as important.

To find out if this protein is important for snakes, the scientists studied a type of snake called a corn snake. They looked at how the DNA mixes and matches along the snake's genome, which is like a map of all its genes. They also looked at how the DNA gets mixed up when baby snakes are born.

The scientists found that the PRDM9 protein does play a role in deciding where the DNA mixes and matches in snakes. But they also discovered that there are other factors, like special features in the DNA called promoters, that can also influence this process.

So, the scientists learned that in snakes, both the PRDM9 protein and other DNA features work together to decide how the DNA mixes and matches. It's like a game of tug-of-war, where both sides are important in creating new combinations of DNA in snakes.

Hoge C., de Manuel M., Mahgoub M., Okami N., Fuller Z., Banerjee S., Baker Z., McNulty M., Andolfatto P., Macfarlan TS., Schumer M., Tzika AC., Przeworski M. Patterns of recombination in snakes reveal a tug-of-war between PRDM9 and promoter-like features. Science. 2024 Feb 23;383(6685):eadj7026. doi: 10.1126/science.adj7026. Epub 2024 Feb 23.