Modifying histories and initiating meiotic recombination: New answers to an old question

It is well documented that the formation of the DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that initiate meiotic recombination is influenced by chromatin and larger scale chromosome organization, but the molecular nature of this influence has remained elusive. Several recent studies, including Reddy and Villeneuve (2004, this issue of Cell), shed light on this issue by revealing roles for posttranslational histone modifications in promoting DSB formation.