Genome analyses and modelling the relationships between coding density, recombination rate and chromosome length

Dorota Mackiewicz (1) , Marta Zawierta (1) , Wojciech Waga (1) , Stanisław Cebrat (1)

1 Biotechnology Faculty

In the human genomes, recombination frequency between homologous chromosomes during meiosis is highly correlated with their physical length while it differs significantly when their coding density is considered. Furthermore, it has been observed that the recombination events are distributed unevenly along the chromosomes. We have found that many of such recombination properties can be predicted by computer simulations of population evolution based on the Monte Carlo methods. For example, these simulations have shown that the probability of of the recombination events by selection is higher at the ends of chromosomes and lower in their middle parts. The regions of high coding density are more prone to enter the strategy of haplotype complementation and to form clusters of genes which are "recombination deserts". The phenomenon of switching in-between the purifying selection and haplotype complementation has a phase transition character, and many relations between the effective population size, coding density, chromosome size and recombination frequency are those of the power law type.

Mots clés: Crossover; Complementation; Gene linkage; Monte Carlo simulation

Dorota Mackiewicz, Marta Zawierta, Wojciech Waga, Stanisław Cebrat. Genome analyses and modelling the relationships between coding density, recombination rate and chromosome length. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2010, 267 (2), pp.186. ⟨10.1016/j.jtbi.2010.08.022⟩. ⟨hal-00629966⟩