Carter: Response to TMR4A and Created Heterozygosity

[evograd (Blogging Graduate Student)]

Now he’s going on about recombination rates, relying entirely on the interview clip with Carter. I’ve already covered those claims in this thread the other day:

Carter: Were Recombination Rates Higher in the Past?

@SFT released a mercifully short video clip from his interview with Dr. Rob Carter. Carter mentions that African populations have more recombination hotspots than Europeans, and that recombination rates should be slowing over time due to degeneration of PRDM9 binding sites. This is seemingly offered as a partial explanation against LD and TMR4A arguments against YEC. [The Scientific Adam and Eve - Recombination Rates and African Diversity] It’s true that Africans (notably West Africans) have more recombination hotspots in their genomes (see paper below), but I’ve yet to see any evidence that this results in a substantial increase in the overall genome recombination rate, rather than simply spreading out the same amount of recombination more evenly over the genome, as it were.

He also keeps saying that we think recombination is random because we’re behind the times. I’ve no idea where’s getting that idea from. Speaking for myself, I’ve known about the influence of PRDM9 for years. SFT is more likely the one that’s only just picked up this tidbit from Carter, so now he’s projecting his ignorance onto us.