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Do complementary genes move closer on the DNA chain?

  1. Oct 1, 2009 #1
    1. I read that each gene has a 50% chance to be transfered to a single gamete.
    Does the distance between two genes on the same chromosome influence the conditional probability for the second gene to be transfered to the same gamete as the first one?

    2. Can the process of reproduction allow to change the distance between two specific genes inherited from the same parent?

    If both points were true and the conditional probability would decrease with distance (with a maximum close to 100% for close distance), then this would be an effective way to make groups of complementary genes with high probability of common passage to individual descendant, which would make the descendant more efficient.
  2. jcsd
  3. Oct 2, 2009 #2


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    Yes, genes can be swapped among homologous chromosomes in a process called recombination. Genes that are very close to each other have a low recombination frequency, genes that are at opposite ends or on separate chromosomes have a frequency of 50%.

    Are you suggesting that we should engineer chromosomes so that complementary genes are linked to each other? This certainly won't be possible in humans, it is not a spontaneous process either (generally speaking the order of genes on a chromosome is always the same). It could possibly be tried for transgenic crops, but it is way more efficient to just grow the crops with complementary genes to homozygosity.

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