Overview

Assistant Professor UMDNJ NJMS 1979-1985
Associate Professor UMDNJ NJMS 1985-1993
Professor Rutgers NJMS 1993-Present

Education

PHD, 1976, Brandeis University, Biology
B.S., 1971, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Relevant Publications

Kaback, D.B., Guacci, V., Barber, D. and Mahon, J. (1992) Chromosome size dependent control of meiotic recombination. Science 256:228-232. DOI: 10.1038/ng0596-20

Bussey, H., Kaback, D.B., Zhong, W., Vo, D.T., Clark, M.W., Fortin, N., Hall, J., Ouellette, B.F.F., Keng, T., Barton, A.B., Su, Y., Davies, C.J. and Storms, R.K. (1995) The nucleotide sequence of chromosome I from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 92:3809-3814. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.92.9.3809

Kaback, D.B., Barber, D., Mahon, J., Lamb, J. and You, J. (1999) Chromosome size-dependent control of meiotic reciprocal recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: The role of crossover interference. Genetics, 152:1475-1486. PMCID: PMC1460698

Barton, A. B., Su, Y., Lamb, J., Barber, D. and Kaback, D. B. (2003) A function for subtelomeric DNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics, 165: 929-934. PMCID: PMC1462788

Scherthan, H., Wang, H., Adelfalk, C., White, E. J., Cowan, C., Cande, W. Z. and Kaback, D. B. (2007) Chromosome mobility during meiotic prophase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sciences, 104:16934-16939 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0704860104

Zebrowski, D. and Kaback, D. B. (2008) A Simple Method for Isolating Disomic Strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Yeast 25: 321-326. PMCID: PMC1462788

Barton, A. B., Pekosz, M., Kurvathi, R. S. and Kaback, D. B. (2008) Meiotic recombination at the ends of chromosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 179: 1221-1235. DOI: 10.1534/genetics.107.083493

Kaback, D. B. (2013) The modest beginnings of one genome project. Genetics194:291'299. DOI: 10.1534/genetics.113.151258

Areas Of Interest

Meiosis

chromosome pairing and recombination

chromosome structure

telomeres

yeast

Course List

GSND5501Q		Med Biochem & Epidemiology
MBGC5071Q		Adv. Nucleic Acids: DNA
MICRN5233		Microbes & Infectious Disease
MSBS5126Q		Human Genetics and Genomics
MSBS5910Q		Seminar in Biomedical Sciences
EDUC6100K		Foundations of Body Systems
GSND5325Q		Intro Bio-Medical Ethics

Control of recombination during meiosis in model organisms

Meiosis is the specialized form of cell division used for producing haploid gametes such as sperm and eggs. In humans, defective meiotic divisions can cause Down, Turner, Klinefelter and other syndromes and spontaneous miscarriages. During meiosis, homologous chromosomes pair, undergo recombination and then segregate from each other reducing the chromosome number by half. Recombination between each pair of homologous chromosomes is essential for their proper segregation. We have spent the past 40 years studying mechanisms that ensure recombination between each pair of homologous chromosomes using Baker's Yeast as a model organism. We found that recombination rates responded directly to chromosome size; Small chromosomes recombine more per base pair of DNA than large chromosomes. This relationship has now been demonstrated to apply to almost every organism investigated and appears to insure recombination between each pair of homologues. In yeast, this size-dependent control appears to function by preferentially inducing crossovers near chromosome ends or preferentially inhibiting recombination on larger chromosomes that have already undergone recombination, a process termed crossover interference. This finding has led to our interest in the molecular mechanism of crossover interference, a process that affects large parts of whole chromosomes. The meiotic synaptonemal complex (SC), a structure that forms when homologous chromosomes undergo recombination has been implicated in mediating crossover interference. To enable its study, we produced fluorescent SCs and used them to visualize the dynamics of the meiotic pairing process in live meiotic cells. In addition, we used this fluorescent marker to aid in the partial purification of these structures. These investigations revealed interesting chromosome and nuclear movements that appeared to be dependent upon telomeres and an actin motor that somehow facilitate completion of the pairing process.
We have also investigated the function of subtelomeric heterochromatin in meiotic pairing. Our studies have revealed that these chromosomal regions act as a barrier to meiotic recombination and suggested that this barrier ensures that recombination occurs in chromosomal regions where recombination can promote chromosome segregation.