Our paper on gene conversion in maize centromeres, a collaboration with Kelly Dawe’s lab, came out today in PLoS Biology. It’s already gotten some positive press in an accompanying commentary piece by Talbert & Henikoff and was noted in the research highlights section of Nature and by the maize genetics and genomics database editorial board.

Below is figure 2 (and accompanying text) from the Talbert & Henikoff, showing an example of gene conversion in in repeat arrays.

Figure 2. Unequal exchange in satellite arrays.

Identical tandem satellite repeats become diversified over time by mutation. Unequal exchange results in gain or loss of tandem repeats. Repeated exchange can lead to homogenization of satellite repeats (left). If the unit of exchange consists of multiple diverged monomers, higher-order repeats are generated (right).