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SUMMARY:Sex and Death: Recombination and Immunity in Arabidopsis - Dr Ian 
 Henderson (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20141202T210000Z
DTEND:20141202T213000Z
UID:TALK55143@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Paulina Rowicka
DESCRIPTION:The majority of plants and animals are sexual\, meaning they r
 eproduce via meiosis. This is a variant cell division that halves the chro
 mosome number\, producing haploid sex cells (gametes). Gamete fusion allow
 s genetic mixing within populations and potentially accelerates the respon
 se to selection. During meiosis our chromosomes also pair-up and undergo r
 eciprocal crossover\, that further increases genetic variability between p
 rogeny. It has long been appreciated that crossovers are non-randomly dist
 ributed. For example\, they show crossover interference\, which causes the
 m to be more widely spaced than expected by chance. To understand recombin
 ation we have mapped crossovers along plant chromosomes at fine-scale. We 
 have found that the major crossover hotspots are located at disease resist
 ance genes\, which encode pathogen immune receptors. We speculate that thi
 s may reflect a mechanism to improve co-evolutionary dynamics with pathoge
 ns\, via boosting of genetic variability at the immunity genes between gen
 erations. The provides circumstantial support for the 'Red Queen' theory f
 or the advantage of sex.
LOCATION:Senior Parlour\, Gonville &amp\; Caius College
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