This video explains the concepts of genetic recombination, linked genes, and crossing over, building upon Mendel's Law of Independent Assortment. It uses fruit flies as an example to illustrate how alleles located on the same chromosome can be inherited together (linkage) or separated through crossing over, leading to recombination. The video also introduces recombination frequency as a measure of the likelihood of genes recombining, which is used to determine genetic distance and create gene maps.
Centimorgans are a unit used to describe the genetic distance between genes. This distance is directly related to the likelihood of recombination occurring between those genes. A larger distance, measured in centimorgans, signifies a higher probability of crossing over and thus a higher recombination frequency. Conversely, a smaller distance means the genes are more closely linked and less likely to recombine. Essentially, 1 centimorgan corresponds to a 1% chance of recombination.
