Meiotic mismatch repair quantified on the basis of segregation patterns in Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Hybrid DNA with mismatched base pairs is a central intermediate of meiotic recombination. Mismatch repair leads either to restoration or conversion, while failure of repair results in postmeiotic segregation (PMS). The behavior of three G to C transversions in one-factor crosses with the wild-type alleles is studied in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. They lead to C/C and G/G mismatches and are compared with closely linked mutations yielding other mismatches. A method is presented for the detection of PMS in random spores. The procedure yields accurate PMS frequencies as shown by comparison with tetrad data. A scheme is presented for the calculation of the frequency of hybrid DNA formation and the efficiency of mismatch repair. The efficiency of C/C repair in S. pombe is calculated to be about 70%. Other mismatches are repaired with close to 100% efficiency. These results are compared with data published on mutations in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Ascobolus immersus. This study forms the basis for the detailed analysis of the marker effects caused by G to C transversions in two-factor crosses.