title: Genetic Background, Maternal Age, and Interaction Effects Mediate Rates of Crossing Over in Drosophila melanogaster Females.
abstract: Meiotic recombination is a genetic process that is critical for proper chromosome segregation in many organisms. Despite being fundamental for organismal fitness, rates of crossing over vary greatly between taxa. Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to phenotypic variation in crossover frequency, as do genotype-environment interactions. Here, we test the hypothesis that maternal age influences rates of crossing over in a genotypic-specific manner. Using classical genetic techniques, we estimated rates of crossing over for individual Drosophila melanogaster females from five strains over their lifetime from a single mating event. We find that both age and genetic background significantly contribute to observed variation in recombination frequency, as do genotype-age interactions. We further find differences in the effect of age on recombination frequency in the two genomic regions surveyed. Our results highlight the complexity of recombination rate variation and reveal a new role of genotype by maternal age interactions in mediating recombination rate.
authors.affiliation: Program in Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 chadmhunter@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Chad M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5249-4570
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Program in Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695.
authors.forename: Matthew C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Program in Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 Bioinformatics Research Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 Center for Human Health and the Environment, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Aylor
authors.affiliation: Program in Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 Bioinformatics Research Center, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695.
authors.forename: Nadia D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Singh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003434:Crossing Over, Genetic; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D000068617:Genetic Background; D056426:Genetic Loci; D049750:Genome, Insect; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
keywords: aging; meiosis; recombination