Recombination in male and female meiocytes contrasted

Abstract

For technical reasons studies of chiasma frequency and distribution, and hence of intrachromosomal recombination, have mostly been confined to male meiosis. However, there is now sufficient comparative data on male and female meiosis, in both plants and animals, to show that the extent of intra-chromosomal recombination in some organisms may be much the same on the female as on the male side, whereas other organisms show extreme sexual divergence in this regard. The evolutionary significance of such diversity remains enigmatic.