title: Meiotic recombination strongly influences GC-content evolution in short regions in the mouse genome.
abstract: Meiotic recombination is known to influence GC-content evolution in large regions of mammalian genomes by favoring the fixation of G and C alleles and increasing the rate of A/T to G/C substitutions. This process is known as GC-biased gene conversion (gBGC). Until recently, genome-wide measures of fine-scale recombination activity were unavailable in mice. Additionally, comparative studies focusing on mouse were limited as the closest organism with its genome fully sequenced was rat. Here, we make use of the recent mapping of double strand breaks (DSBs), the first step of meiotic recombination, in the mouse genome and of the sequencing of mouse closely related subspecies to analyze the fine-scale evolutionary signature of meiotic recombination on GC-content evolution in recombination hotspots, short regions that undergo extreme rates of recombination. We measure substitution rates around DSB hotspots and observe that gBGC is affecting a very short region (≈ 1 kbp) in length around these hotspots. Furthermore, we can infer that the locations of hotspots evolved rapidly during mouse evolution.
authors.affiliation: Montpellier SupAgro, Unité Mixte de Recherche 1334, Amélioration Génétique et Adaptation des Plantes Méditerranéennes et Tropicales, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Clément
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Arndt
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D001482:Base Composition; D001483:Base Sequence; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005785:Gene Conversion; D016678:Genome; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D059645:Mutation Rate; D010802:Phylogeny; D051381:Rats; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
keywords: GC-biased gene conversion; double strand breaks; mouse; substitution rates