M. Lichten studies the mechanisms and regulation of homologous recombination, using budding yeast to investigate how DNA exchange contributes to genome maintenance and accurate chromosome segregation. The associated institutional research profile describes a program linking molecular reactions to the progression of meiosis.[ref]
Michael Lichten research profile at the National Cancer Institute. Research summary and Mechanism and Control of Meiotic Recombination
A 2001 study with T. Allers compared noncrossover recombination with chromosomal crossover formation. Noncrossover products appeared while Holliday junction intermediates were still present; chromosomal crossovers appeared later as those intermediates were resolved. This timing challenged a model in which both products necessarily emerge together from one common late intermediate.[ref]
Differential timing and control of noncrossover and crossover recombination during meiosis by T. Allers and M. Lichten. Abstract: product timing relative to Holliday-junction resolution
The illuminating point is that final products do not tell the whole reaction history. Two outcomes may both exchange genetic information yet arise at different times through differently regulated routes. Measuring intermediates alongside products gives a stronger mechanistic test than counting only the final genetic recombination events.
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