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Why the genome does not congeal

Abstract

Since the genes in any given organism have evolved together to produce an adaptive phenotype, one might expect that rearrangement by chromosomal recombination would be maladaptive and thus wiped out by natural selection. This article reviews various theories that explain why, on the contrary, recombination is almost universal.

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Smith, J. Why the genome does not congeal. Nature 268, 693–696 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/268693a0

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