How homologous recombination generates a mutable genome

Abstract

Recombination and mutation have traditionally been regarded as independent evolutionary processes: the latter generates variation, which the former reshuffles. Recent studies, however, have suggested that allelic recombination influences the underlying mutation rate, as high mutation rates are inferred in regions of high recombination. Furthermore, recombination between duplicated sequences introduces structural variation into the human genome and facilitates the formation of clustered gene families. Comparisons of whole-genome sequences reveal the expansion of gene family clusters to be an important mode of genome evolution. The negative aspect of this genomic dynamism is the contribution of these rearrangements to genetic diseases. © Henry Stewart Publications.