Why genetic recombination is necessary

That crossing over results in the shuffling of genetic material, much as the very gentle shuffling of a deck of cards would do. And it's important because it's one of the sources of genetic variation that we see among offspring of parents. Elaine A. Ostrander, Ph. Featured Content. In most cases, the chromosomes line up properly and crossover left panel. When abnormal crossovers occur, chromosomes do not line up properly and important genes may be duplicated or deleted. Brand and Presgraves hypothesize that the change in recombination rates between D.

The D. This means, then, that the MEI gene is constantly evolving to an ever-changing optimum. The evolution of MEI is similar to genes involved in immunity, Presgraves says. The MEI gene has so far only been investigated in fruit flies, but the research into recombination has applications for humans. Please consider downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer to experience this site as intended.

Scientists discover gene controlling genetic recombination rates April 19, Genetic recombination is vital to natural selection, yet some species display far more crossover than others. Conversely, the rare beneficial alleles of genes can be tested in a population without being irreversibly linked to any potentially deleterious mutant alleles of nearby genes.

This keeps the effective target size for mutation close to that of a gene, not the whole chromosome. Ross C. Hardison , T. Contributors and Attributions Ross C.