Research in the Baxter lab focuses on the process of chromosome resolution. During chromosome replication the sister chromatids become entangled. All such entanglements need to be resolved before the chromosomes can be faithfully segregated to the daughter cells during mitosis. In particular we study the series of events that initially generates double stranded intertwines or catenanes during the termination phase of DNA replication and the processes that ensure all the catenanes generated during termination are resolved during G2 and mitosis.

Failure to resolve chromosomes leads to the daughter cells not having the normal complement of genetic information. This leads to either cell death or widespread genomic instability – a potential pathway to cancer.

We principally tackle these issues in the budding yeast system. The sophisticated genetics available in this model organism allows careful dissection of the pathways involved in chromosome resolution. This produces detailed and coherent mechanisms for the action of these pathways that can then be tested in more intractable mammalian cells

Baxter, J, Sen, N, López Martínez, V, Monturus De Carandini, M E, Schwartzman, J B, Diffley, J F X and Aragón, L (2011) Positive supercoiling of mitotic DNA drives decatenation by topoisomerase II in eukaryotes. Science, 331 (6022). pp. 1328-32. ISSN 0036-8075

Baxter, J and Aragón, L (2011) Physical Linkages between Sister Chromatids and Their Removal during Yeast Chromosome Segregation. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. ISSN 0091-7451

Baxter, Jonathan and Diffley, John F X (2008) Topoisomerase II inactivation prevents the completion of DNA replication in budding yeast. Molecular Cell, 30 (6). pp. 790-802. ISSN 1097-2765