title: The rate of meiotic gene conversion varies by sex and age.
abstract: Meiotic recombination involves a combination of gene conversion and crossover events that, along with mutations, produce germline genetic diversity. Here we report the discovery of 3,176 SNP and 61 indel gene conversions. Our estimate of the non-crossover (NCO) gene conversion rate (G) is 7.0 for SNPs and 5.8 for indels per megabase per generation, and the GC bias is 67.6%. For indels, we demonstrate a 65.6% preference for the shorter allele. NCO gene conversions from mothers are longer than those from fathers, and G is 2.17 times greater in mothers. Notably, G increases with the age of mothers, but not the age of fathers. A disproportionate number of NCO gene conversions in older mothers occur outside double-strand break (DSB) regions and in regions with relatively low GC content. This points to age-related changes in the mechanisms of meiotic gene conversion in oocytes.
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|School of Science and Engineering, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Bjarni V
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-0756-0767
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Halldorsson
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Marteinn T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Hardarson
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kehr
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Unnur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Styrkarsdottir
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Arnaldur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gylfason
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Gudmar
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Thorleifsson
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zink
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Adalbjorg
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jonasdottir
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Aslaug
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jonasdottir
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-7123-6123
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sulem
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Gisli
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Masson
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Unnur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Thorsteinsdottir
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Department of Anthropology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Agnar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Helgason
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Augustine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Daniel F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Gudbjartsson
authors.affiliation: deCODE Genetics/Amgen, Inc., Reykjavik, Iceland.|Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
authors.forename: Kari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stefansson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001482:Base Composition; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005785:Gene Conversion; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008423:Maternal Age; D008540:Meiosis; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D012727:Sex Characteristics