Competition between bivalents during chiasma formation

Abstract

It has long been known that crossing over in one section of a chromosome reduces the probability of further crossing over in other sections of that same chromosome. More recently it has been demonstrated by Haldane (1931) that the frequency distributions of chiasma formation in bivalents at the first division of meiosis also indicate that interference occurs. It has, however, been assumed that crossing over in one bivalent is independent of crossing over in other bivalents of the same nucleus. Recent work has rendered doubtful the validity of this assumption.