Two research efforts have determined DNA recombination mechanisms that underlie population diversity, both how it happens and where in the genetic code it occurs.

In one study, University of Chicago scientists examined patterns in DNA recombination, the process by which a person’s genome is consolidated into one set of chromosomes to pass onto an offspring. In the other study from deCODE genetics, a link was made between variants of a particular gene and the extent to which DNA recombination occurs.