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Thomas Hunt Morgan's illustration of crossing over (1916) A double crossing over. Chromosomal crossover, or crossing over, is the exchange of genetic material during sexual reproduction between two homologous chromosomes' non-sister chromatids that results in recombinant chromosomes.
Synapsis during Meiosis. The circled area is the part where synapsis occurs, where the two chromatids meet before crossing over. Synapsis or Syzygy is the pairing of two chromosomes that occurs during meiosis. It allows matching-up of homologous pairs prior to their segregation, and possible chromosomal crossover between them.
Points of crossing over become visible as chiasma after the synaptonemal complex dissembles and the homologous chromosomes slightly apart from each other. The phenomenon of genetic chiasmata (chiasmatypie) was discovered and described in 1909 by Frans Alfons Janssens, a Professor at the University of Leuven in Belgium. [3] [4]
The process of meiosis I is generally longer than meiosis II because it takes more time for the chromatin to replicate and for the homologous chromosomes to be properly oriented and segregated by the processes of pairing and synapsis in meiosis I. [7] During meiosis, genetic recombination (by random segregation) and crossing over produces ...
The synaptonemal complex (SC) is a protein structure that forms between homologous chromosomes (two pairs of sister chromatids) during meiosis and is thought to mediate synapsis and recombination during prophase I during meiosis in eukaryotes.
Once synapsis and crossing over are complete, the cell transitions to the pachytene stage of prophase I. Pachytene features fully condensed and paired chromosomes along their length, with distinctly visible recombination nodules. [9] [10]
The NCO/SDSA pathway contributes little to genetic variation, since the arms of the chromosomes flanking the recombination event remain in the parental configuration. Thus, explanations for the adaptive function of meiosis that focus exclusively on crossing-over are inadequate to explain the majority of recombination events.
During synapsis, genetic recombination usually occurs. Some of the recombination events occur by crossing over (involving physical exchange between two chromatids), but most recombination events involve information exchange but not physical exchange between two chromatids (see Synthesis-dependent strand annealing (SDSA) ).