The Schizosaccharomyces pombe rad51(+) and dmc1(+) genes code for homologues of the Escherichia coli recombination protein RecA. Deletion of rad51(+) causes slow growth, retardation of cell division and a decrease in viability. rad51Delta cells have a defect in mating-type switching. The DNA modification at the mating-type locus required for mating-type switching contributes to slow growth in the rad51 mutant. Cell mating is reduced in crosses homozygous for rad51Delta. Ectopic expression of the dmc1(+) gene allowed us to demonstrate that the reduction in meiotic recombination in dmc1 mutants is not caused by a disturbance of rad24 expression from the dmc1- rad24 bicistronic RNA. We describe the functional defects of terminally epitope-tagged Dmc1 and Rad51 and discuss it in terms of protein interaction. Presumptive Rad51 and Dmc1 foci were detected on spreads of meiotic chromatin.