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Updated: Mar 11, 2026

Frequency and Distribution of Crossovers in Caenorhabditis elegans Meiosis by SNP Genotyping using Real-time PCR
Published on: July 11, 2025
Effect of sex, age and genetics on crossover interference in cattle
Zhiying Wang1,2, Botong Shen2, Jicai Jiang2
1College of Animal Science, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 010018, China.
Abstract:
Crossovers generated by homologous recombination ensure proper chromosome segregation during meiosis. Crossover interference results in chiasmata being more evenly distributed along chromosomes, but the mechanism underlying crossover interference remains elusive. Based on large pedigrees of Holstein and Jersey cattle with genotype data, we extracted three-generation families, including 147,327 male and 71,687 female meioses in Holstein, and 108,163 male and 37,008 female meioses in Jersey, respectively. We identified crossovers in these meioses and fitted the Housworth-Stahl "interference-escape" model to study crossover interference patterns in the cattle genome. Our result reveals that the degree of crossover interference is stronger in females than in males. We found evidence for inter-chromosomal variation in the level of crossover interference, with smaller chromosomes exhibiting stronger interference. In addition, crossover interference levels decreased with maternal age. Finally, sex-specific GWAS analyses identified one locus near the NEK9 gene on chromosome 10 to have a significant effect on crossover interference levels. This locus has been previously associated with recombination rate in cattle. Collectively, this large-scale analysis provided a comprehensive description of crossover interference across chromosome, sex and age groups, identified associated candidate genes, and produced useful insights into the mechanism of crossover interference.
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