When: Wednesday 22nd November 2023, 12-12:45 PM CET.
Where: Zoom (email joseph.robertson@nmbu.no if you would like to receive the Zoom link)
Title: Fine-scale recombination patterns in salmonid fishes support PRDM9-directed hotspot location
Abstract: Recombination hotspots are mainly regulated by the rapidly evolving PRDM9 protein in primates and mice, which has been repeatedly lost in animals and whose role remains largely unknown outside mammals. We recovered full-length PRDM9 protein in salmonid species and identified a complex duplication history of the protein in this group, with differential retention of functional paralogs. We reconstructed population-level recombination landscapes in populations of coho, rainbow and Atlantic salmon, which revealed that recombination hotspots are mainly located away from promoters and evolve rapidly between closely related species and populations, as observed in mammals with a functional Prdm9, patterns not found in species that have lost the protein. Taken together, our results suggest that PRDM9 regulated recombination hotspots in the common ancestor of vertebrates.