As part of an upcoming book on adaptive evolution, I place a lot of emphasis on whether an evolutionary process acts random or non-random. This makes a lot of different, think about the discussions on non-random mutation with respect to function.
I believe that for most evolutionary processes, a non-random form exists. But I am not sure if this is true for recombination (crossing-over among homologous chromosomes and reassortment among non-homologous chromosomes). Are there mechanisms by which specific alleles from different loci end up in the same gamete at a higher rate than by chance? Can alleles 'decide' to recombine with specific other alleles?
So my question is not about effects on average recombination rates between loci, but about an effect of the interaction of the alleles of those loci. For now, I believe recombination to be totally random. Did I oversee something (maybe even something obvious)?
Yes, it does occur. It may sometimes be due to epigenetic modifications, environmental factors, genetic factors, and sequence homology which ultimately leads to either distorted linkage maps, altered diversity, risk of increased genetic disorders etc
Hi Neha Sharma ,
Thank you for your answer. That sounds interesting! And clearly unknown to me. So it would be great if you could you point me to some reading material to catch up (here or via email, as you prefer).
Thank you.
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