The DMC1 gene is a major homologous recombination gene, expressed during prophase I of meiosis. We have isolated and analysed two DMC1genes, viz. type A and type B from rice. It was observed that DMC1 type A is located on chromosome 12 whereas DMC1 type B is on chromosome 11. The location of DMC1 type A in the region on chromosome 12 that is duplicated on rice chromosome 11 is a new finding in this report. Earlier DMC1 orthologues have been reported on chromosomes 9 and 11. Partially overlapping 5 ′ and 3 ′ cDNAs of one of the DMC1 genes were obtained and used to generate the full - length DMC1 gene, which was cloned and over - expressed in E. coli.