Sex-Specific Landscapes of Crossover and Noncrossover Recombination in Coppery Titi Monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus).

Along with germline mutations, meiotic recombination plays a fundamental role in shaping genetic diversity and thus directly influences a species' potential adaptive response to environmental change, amongst other features. Despite the recombination landscape being of central importance for a variety of questions in molecular evolution, the genome-wide distribution and frequency of recombination remains to be elucidated in many nonhuman primate species. Utilizing novel high-coverage genomic data from three multi-sibling families, we here provide the first estimates of the rates and patterns of crossover and noncrossover recombination in coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus)-a socially monogamous, pair-bonded primate that serves as an important model in behavioral research. Consistent with haplorrhines, crossover and noncrossover recombination in this platyrrhine are frequently localized at PRDM9-mediated hotspots, characterized by a 15-mer binding motif with substantial similarities to the degenerate 13-mer motif found in humans. The sex-averaged crossover rate in coppery titi monkeys is comparable with those of other primates; however, no significant difference in recombination rates was observed between the sexes, despite a pronounced maternal age effect in the species. Similarities also exist with regards to the sex-specific genomic distribution of noncrossover events, though the minimal conversion tract lengths of extended events was observed to be considerably longer in maternally inherited noncrossovers. Taken together, these similarities and differences in the recombination landscape relative to other primates highlight the importance of incorporating species-specific rates and patterns in evolutionary models, and the resources provided here will thus serve to aid future studies in this important primate model system.