Robin Holliday was a researcher in genetics and cell biology whose contributions include the proposed recombination intermediate now called the Holliday junction. His work also concerned DNA methylation and the control of biological development.[ref]
Robin Holliday profile at the Australian Academy of Science. Fellow profile: recombination and epigenetic contributions
His 1964 paper proposed a molecular mechanism for gene conversion. Exchange of strands between related DNA molecules produces a joint intermediate and regions of heteroduplex DNA; movement of the junction, called branch migration, extends the exchanged region. Different ways of resolving the joint structure give different arrangements of flanking genetic markers.[ref]
A mechanism for gene conversion in fungi by Robin Holliday. Section1, pp284–286 and Figure1: proposed strand exchange and alternative resolution routes
For an illuminating example, follow a marker on each side of the exchanged region. One resolution can retain their original outside pairing, while another exchanges the flanking regions. The model therefore links an invisible molecular intermediate to different observable inheritance patterns. It was a mechanistic proposal, not a claim that every modern case of gene conversion must follow exactly one pathway.
Robin Holliday
. Portrait explicitly identified on the Australian Academy of Science fellow profile. New to topics? Read the docs here!