Estimating, Recording and Manipulating Recombination

Abstract

Recombination is the formation, in the gametes of a plant or animal, of new combinations of different alleles of two or more genes. New refers to the original combination of alleles present in the genomes of the parental gametes from which the individual concerned has been formed. The subject is discussed in most textbooks on general genetics. The observation of recombination is based on the expression of the relevant alleles in the phenotype (in the broadest sense) of the progeny. Due to dominance and epistasy not all recombinational events are immediately detectable in the progeny phenotype, Analysis of recombination, therefore, is usually indirect and requires special experimental design. Recombination is the basis of most plant breeding programs, and it appropriate to analyze its components, the ways it can be manipulated to serve its purpose optimally , ant its actual role in plant breeding.