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Originally published in Science Express on 10 February 2005
Science 1 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5718, pp. 107 - 111
DOI: 10.1126/science.1105322
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Reports

Comparison of Fine-Scale Recombination Rates in Humans and Chimpanzees

Wendy Winckler,1,3,5* Simon R. Myers,6* Daniel J. Richter,5 Robert C. Onofrio,5 Gavin J. McDonald,1,5 Ronald E. Bontrop,7 Gilean A. T. McVean,6 Stacey B. Gabriel,5 David Reich,3,5 Peter Donnelly,6{dagger}{ddagger} David Altshuler1,2,3,4,5{dagger}{ddagger}

We compared fine-scale recombination rates at orthologous loci in humans and chimpanzees by analyzing polymorphism data in both species. Strong statistical evidence for hotspots of recombination was obtained in both species. Despite ~99% identity at the level of DNA sequence, however, recombination hotspots were found rarely (if at all) at the same positions in the two species, and no correlation was observed in estimates of fine-scale recombination rates. Thus, local patterns of recombination rate have evolved rapidly, in a manner disproportionate to the change in DNA sequence.

1 Department of Molecular Biology and Center for Human Genetic Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114–2622, USA.
2 Diabetes Unit, Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114–2622, USA.
3 Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
4 Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
5 Program in Medical and Population Genetics, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02141–2023, USA.
6 Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TG, UK.
7 Department of Comparative Genetics and Refinement, Biomedical Primate Research Centre, 2280 GH Rijswijk, Netherlands.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} These authors jointly directed the project.

{ddagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: donnelly{at}stats.ox.ac.uk (P.D.); altshuler{at}molbio.mgh.harvard.edu (D.A.)

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