Genetics of recombination rate variation within and between species

Recombination diversifies the genomes of offspring, influences the evolutionary dynamics of populations, and ensures that chromosomes segregate properly during meiosis. Individuals recombine at different rates, but observed levels of variation in recombination rate remain mostly unexplained. Genetic dissection of differences in recombination rate within and between species provides a powerful framework for understanding how this trait evolves. In this Perspective, I amalgamate published findings from genetic studies of variation in the genome-wide number of crossovers within and between species, and I use exploratory analyses to identify preliminary patterns. The narrow-sense heritability of crossover count is consistently low, indicating limited resemblance among relatives and predicting a weak response to short-term selection. Variants associated with crossover number within populations span the range of minor allele frequency (MAF). The size of the additive effect of recombination-associated variants, along with a negative correlation between this effect and MAF, raises the prospect that mutations inducing phenotypic shifts larger than a few crossovers are deleterious, though the contributions of methodological biases to these patterns deserve investigation. Quantitative trait loci that contribute to differences between populations or species alter crossover number in both directions, a pattern inconsistent with selection toward a constant optimum for this trait. Building on this characterization of genetic variation in crossover number within and between species, I describe fruitful avenues for future research. Better integrating recombination rate into quantitative genetics will reveal the balance of evolutionary forces responsible for genetic variation in this trait that shapes inheritance.