Consequences of recombination for the evolution of the mating type locus in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Summary Recombination suppression in sex chromosomes and mating type loci can lead to degeneration as a result of reduced selection efficacy and Muller's ratchet effects. However, genetic exchange in the form of noncrossover gene conversions may still take place within crossover‐suppressed regions. Recent work has found evidence that gene conversion may explain the low degrees of allelic differentiation in the dimorphic mating‐type locus ( MT )...