Recombination in diverse maize is stable, predictable, and associated with genetic load.

ABSTRACT: Among the fundamental evolutionary forces, recombination arguably has the largest impact on the practical work of plant breeders. Varying over 1,000-fold across the maize genome, the local meiotic recombination rate limits the resolving power of quantitative trait mapping and the precision of favorable allele introgression. The consequences of low recombination also theoretically extend to the species-wide scale by decreasing the power of selection relative to genetic drift, and thereby hindering the purging of deleterious mutations. In this study, we used genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) to identify 136,000 recombination breakpoints at high resolution within US and Chinese maize nested association mapping populations. We find that the pattern of cross-overs is highly predictable on the broa

SUBMITTER: Rodgers-Melnick E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4378432 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature