Abstract
Genetic Links between Recombination and Speciation
Highlights
Recombination rate shows resemblance among relatives [2], differs among inbred strains raised in a common environment [3], and responds to artificial selection [4], demonstrating a genetic component to individual rate differences that remains mostly unexplained
The fact that only a small number of genes are known to control variation in recombination rate or to contribute to hybrid sterility makes the discovery that one gene mediates both traits especially noteworthy
The authors first use the MLH1 technique to confirm that the genome of an inbred strain representing the house mouse subspecies Mus musculus musculus experiences an average of 4.7 more crossovers than the genome of an inbred strain descended primarily from M. m. domesticus (a 19% increase)
Summary
A handful of genes responsible for variation in recombination rate have been identified, including modifiers of the total number of crossovers [5,6,7,8] and loci that determine the genomic placement of recombination events [9]. The fact that only a small number of genes are known to control variation in recombination rate or to contribute to hybrid sterility makes the discovery that one gene mediates both traits especially noteworthy. Decades of persistent effort from the group of Jiri Forejt demonstrated that incompatibility between Prdm9 and other loci causes sterility in F1 hybrid males formed by crossing two subspecies of house mice [17].
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