CDK regulation of the meiotic nuclear biology

The World Health Organization (WHO) considers infertility as a disease, and estimates 1-2% of prevalence in couples in developed countries (3.6 million of infertile couples in high-income regions). A key feature of meiosis, the cellular program that generates gametes, is the recombination between homologous chromosomes (maternal and paternal) that, in addition to generate genetic diversity, facilitates accurate chromosome segregation. Defects in chromosome segregation during meiosis cause miscarriages, infertility and genetic diseases, and reveal the important to understand the meiotic recombination process. Our laboratory is interested in how this particular recombination is regulated. To this aim we are using the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, since this organism is a proven model system for different eukaryotic conserved processes.