Yeast and roundworms may give research into birth defects a boost. An enzyme needed to make healthy reproductive cells turns out to be the same in both, and probably helps prevent birth defects in humans as well. Before human sperm and eggs are formed, the chromosomes in the parental cell pair up and exchange bits of DNA. If the exchange goes wrong, potentially dangerous mutations result. Anne Villeneuve, molecular biologist at Stanford University Medical Center in California, USA, found that in yeast and nematodes this exchange is orchestrated by the same protein. Since yeast and worms are so distantly related, she says, a very similar protein probably operates in humans as well.
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