Genome rearrangements often result from non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) between repetitive DNA elements dispersed throughout the genome. Here we systematically analyze NAHR between Ty retrotransposons using a genome-wide approach that exploits unique features of Saccharomyces cerevisiae purebred and Saccharomyces cerevisiae/Saccharomyces bayanus hybrid diploids. We find that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce NAHR-dependent rearrangements using Ty elements located 12 to 48 kilobases distal to the break site. This break-distal recombination (BDR) occurs frequently, even when allelic recombination can repair the break using the homolog. Robust BDR-dependent NAHR demonstrates that sequences very distal to DSBs can effectively compete with proximal sequences for repair of the break. In addition, our analysis of NAHR partner choice between Ty repeats shows that intrachromosomal Ty partners are preferred despite the abundance of potential interchromosomal Ty partners that share higher sequence identity. This competitive advantage of intrachromosomal Tys results from the relative efficiencies of different NAHR repair pathways. Finally, NAHR generates deleterious rearrangements more frequently when DSBs occur outside rather than within a Ty repeat. These findings yield insights into mechanisms of repeat-mediated genome rearrangements associated with evolution and cancer.

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We propose a possible new way to resolve the long standing problem of strong supersymmetry breaking coexisting with a small cosmological constant. We consider a scalar component of a minimally coupled N = 1 supermultiplet in a general Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) expanding universe. We argue that a tiny term, proportional to H{sup 2} {approx} 10{sup -122} in Plank's units, appearing in the field equations due to this expansion will provide both, the small vacuum energy and the heavy mass of the scalar supersymmetric partner. We present a non-perturbative solution for the scalar field with an unusual dual-frequency behavior. This solution has two characteristic mass scales related to the Hubble parameter as H{sup 1/4} and H{sup 1/2} measured in Plank's units.

We study the populations of X-ray sources in the Milky Way in the 15-55 keV band using a deep survey with the BAT instrument aboard the Swift observatory. We present the logN-logS distributions of the various source types and we analyze their variability and spectra. For the low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) and the high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs) we derive the luminosity functions to a limiting luminosity of L{sub X} {approx} 7 x 10{sup 34} erg s{sup -1}. Our results confirm the previously found flattening of the LMXB luminosity function below a luminosity of L{sub X} {approx} 10{sup 37} erg s{sup -1}. The luminosity function of the HMXBs is found to be significantly flatter in the 15-55 keV band than in the 2-10 keV band. From the luminosity functions we estimate the ratios of the hard X-ray luminosity from HMXBs to the star-formation rate, and the LMXB luminosity to the stellar mass. We use these to estimate the X-ray emissivity in the local universe from X-ray binaries and show that it constitutes only a small fraction of the hard X-ray background.