During meiosis, the two DNA recombinases Rad51 and Dmc1 form specialized presynaptic filaments that are adapted for performing recombination between homologous chromosomes. There is currently a limited understanding of how these two recombinases are organized within the meiotic presynaptic filament. Here, we used single molecule imaging to examine the properties of presynaptic complexes composed of both Rad51 and Dmc1. We demonstrate that Rad51 and Dmc1 have an intrinsic ability to self-segregate, even in the absence of any other recombination accessory proteins.
