Sex difference in recombination frequency in Arabidopsis

Sex differences for rf have been studied in all five chromosomes of the Arabidopsis genome. These differences are strongly segment-specific: in some cases the level of crossing over in male and female meiosis was about the same, though for the majority of segments the rf ♂ is significantly higher than rf ♀ . The data are discussed in the light of the hypothesis about the possible mechanisms of plant sex differences for recombination. The necessity of taking into account the rf sex differences in recombination experiments is called for by the fact that male and female meiocytes can react differentially to the same factor.