How sex chromosomes get trapped into nonrecombination

Abstract

Suppression of recombination along the Y chromosome leads to its degeneration, so why does a process with such potentially deleterious consequences arise? In this issue of PLOS Biology, a new model reveals how and why this might be. We know that suppression of recombination leads to degeneration of Y chromosomes, but it has remained difficult to understand how features with such strong negative effects actually arise. This Primer explores a new model published in PLOS Biology that reveals how this could happen.