Scientists Solve Century-Old Cell Division Mystery

Movies such as ‘X-Men,’ ‘Fantastic Four,’ and ‘The Guardians,’ which showcase vibrant mutant heroes, have captivated global audiences. Recently, a high-throughput genetic screening of meiotic crossover rate mutants in Arabidopsis thaliana garnered the interest of the academic community by unraveling a century-old mystery in the life sciences.

A research team, consisting of Professor Kyuha Choi, Dr. Jaeil Kim, and PhD candidate Heejin Kim from the Department of Life Sciences at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), has achieved a remarkable feat by unveiling the molecular mechanism responsible for crossover interference during meiosis, a biological pattern at the chromosome level. The findings of this research were published on February 20 in Nature Plants, an international journal in the field of life sciences.