Escape from crossover interference increases with maternal age

摘要

Recombination plays a fundamental role in meiosis, ensuring the propersegregation of chromosomes and contributing to genetic diversity by generatingnovel combinations of alleles. Using data derived from directUtoUconsumergenetic testing, we investigated patterns of recombination in over 4,200families. Our analysis revealed a number of sex differences in the distributionof recombination. We find the fraction of male events occurring within hotspotsto be 4.6% higher than for females. We confirm that the recombination rateincreases with maternal age, while hotspot usage decreases, with no sucheffects observed in males. Finally, we show that the placement of femalerecombination events becomes increasingly deregulated with maternal age, withan increasing fraction of events appearing to escape crossover interference.