Human Crossover Interference
Karl W. Broman
Department of Biostatistics
Johns Hopkins University
Statistical analyses of human genetic data are generally performed
with the assumption that the locations of crossovers in meiosis follow
a Poisson process. Data on experimental organisms suggest that
meiosis exhibits positive crossover interference: crossovers tend not
to occur too close together. Using data on more than 8,000 genetic
markers typed on eight large families, we have demonstrated the
presence of positive crossover interference in human meiosis and
further characterized its extent. We fit a gamma renewal process,
which had previously been found to serve as a good model for meiosis
in experimental organisms. We will briefly describe several
surprising findings that came out of this work, emphasizing the
importance of pursuing aberrations in data. This is joint work
with
James L. Weber, Marshfield Medical Research Foundation.
Seminar to be held in Room 107, 24 Hillhouse Avenue at 4:15 pm