Wikipedia:Peer review/Homologous recombination/archive2

Homologous recombination
This peer review discussion has been closed. This article reached GA status in September, and I'd like to complete any hole-filling and balance-tweaking necessary to bring it to FA quality. As with other lesser-known topics in biology, I think one of the main difficulties in explaining homologous recombination is being both accessible to a general audience (e.g. high school students) and informative to more advanced readers (undergraduate and graduate students in life sciences). Suggestions on how I could address that concern, along with anything else, would be appreciated. Emw (talk) 02:27, 20 February 2010 (UTC)
 * Previous peer review

Opening paragraph
I found the lead paragraph a bit confusing, since it is not immediately clear if homologous recombination is restricted to bacteria and viruses or also occurs in eukaryotes. One needs to read further down to get this information. In addition, I believe that the lead paragraph is not as clear as it should be for a general audience. Below is a suggested rewrite in which I have attempted to address these issues:


 * Homologous recombination, also known as general recombination, is a type of genetic recombination used in all forms of life in which nucleotide sequences are exchanged between two similar or identical strands of DNA. The process involves several steps of physical breaking and the eventual rejoining of DNA. This process is most widely used to repair potentially lethal double-strand breaks in DNA. In addition, homologous recombination produces new combinations of DNA sequences during chromosomal crossover in meiosis. These new combinations of DNA produce genetic variation in offspring which allows populations to evolutionarily adapt to changing environmental conditions over time. Homologous recombination is also used in horizontal gene transfer to exchange genetic material between different strains and species of bacteria and viruses.

Boghog (talk) 07:30, 20 February 2010 (UTC)
 * That's a definite improvement. I'd like to emphasize that HGT also results in new gene combinations and is important for bacterial and viral evolution, but I can't think of a wording that's as clear as that above. I've moved the proposal into the article.
 * The use of "DNA" in the first sentence (and possibly the second as well) seems slightly questionable. In viruses, homologous recombination occurs between strands of RNA; thus those two sentences may be construed as inaccurate. Given that, I'm thinking of changing those two instances of "DNA" to "nucleic acid" or "DNA or RNA".  But that would make things less immediately accessible.  Let me know if this concern seems too pedantic, or if there's a way to fix the problem while maintaining accessibility. Emw (talk) 11:48, 20 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Comments by mav
 * Some of the more technical terms that might be difficult to parse for somebody with only a vague recollection of high school biology, such as meiosis, should be briefly explained in-line per WP:JARGON. Any term that can be understood well-enough in context does not need to be explained in-line. Ref notes can be used for longer explanations that would otherwise break the flow of the prose. This sentence from the article is a good example of doing this correctly; "Two well-known versions of the pathway are the RecBCD pathway, which aids in the repair of double-strand breaks in DNA, and the RecF pathway, which promotes repair of single-strand breaks." Just something to watch out for. The article already does this correctly in many places but another pass before FAC would be a good idea. Other than that, the article reads well, appears comprehensive and is well-referenced. --mav (Urgent FACs/FARs/PRs) 14:23, 20 February 2010 (UTC)