Gene conversion in cis. Proposed mechanism of gene conversion in cis. (i) The RHD and RHCE genes are inversely orientated as typical for clustered genes. (ii) A putative hairpin formation of the chromosome allows the close proximity of homologous segments in identical orientation. This structural feature is instrumental for gene conversion events in cis. (iii) Resolving the hairpin yields an RHD-CE-D hybrid gene structure, many of which have been observed to date at the RH gene locus. As an example, the RHD-CE(4-7)-D hybrid exon structure is shown. Symbols are according to Fig. 1.

see for original article:
BMC Genet 2001; 2: 10

last modified 12 Aug 2001