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Advancing maternal age has long been identified as the primary risk factor for human chromosome trisomy. More recently, altered patterns of meiotic recombination have been found to be associated with non-disjunction. We have used trisomy 21 as a model for human non-disjunction that occurs during the formation of oocytes to understand the role of maternal age and recombination. Patterns of recombination that increase the risk for non-disjunction of chromosome 21 include absence of any exchange, an exchange near the centromere or a single, telomeric exchange. Our recent work has shown that different susceptibility patterns are associated with the origin of the meiotic error and maternal age. For MI (meiosis I) errors, the proportion of oocytes with susceptible recombination patterns is highest among young mothers and decreases significantly in the oldest age group. In fact, the pattern of exchanges among the oldest age group mimics the pattern observed among normally disjoining chromosomes 21. These results suggest that oocytes of younger women, with functional meiotic apparatus and/or robust ovarian environment, are able to properly resolve all but the most susceptible exchange patterns. As women age, however, meiotic mechanisms erode, making it difficult to resolve even stable exchange events. Interestingly, our preliminary recombination results on MII errors reveal the opposite relationship with maternal age: susceptible pericentromeric exchanges occur most often in the older age group compared with the younger age group. If confirmed, we will have further evidence for multiple risk factors for non-disjunction that act at different times in the meiotic process.

Altered genetic recombination has been identified as the first molecular correlate of chromosome nondisjunction in both humans and model organisms. Little evidence has emerged to link maternal age--long recognized as the primary risk factor for nondisjunction--with altered recombination, although some studies have provided hints of such a relationship. To determine whether an association does exist, chromosome 21 recombination patterns were examined in 400 trisomy 21 cases of maternal meiosis I origin, grouped by maternal age. These recombination patterns were used to predict the chromosome 21 exchange patterns established during meiosis I. There was no statistically significant association between age and overall rate of exchange. The placement of meiotic exchange, however, differed significantly among the age groups. Susceptible patterns (pericentromeric and telomeric exchanges) accounted for 34% of all exchanges among the youngest class of women but only 10% of those among the oldest class. The pattern of exchanges among the oldest age group mimicked the pattern observed among normally disjoining chromosomes 21. These results suggest that the greatest risk factor for nondisjunction among younger women is the presence of a susceptible exchange pattern. We hypothesize that environmental and age-related insults accumulate in the ovary as a woman ages, leading to malsegregation of oocytes with stable exchange patterns. It is this risk, due to recombination-independent factors, that would be most influenced by increasing age, leading to the observed maternal age effect.

Within the last decade, aberrant meiotic recombination has been confirmed as a molecular risk factor for chromosome nondisjunction in humans. Recombination tethers homologous chromosomes, linking and guiding them through proper segregation at meiosis I. In model organisms, mutations that disturb the recombination pathway increase the frequency of chromosome malsegregation and alterations in both the amount and placement of meiotic recombination are associated with nondisjunction. This association has been established for humans as well. Significant alterations in recombination have been found for all meiosis I-derived trisomies studied to date and a subset of so called "meiosis II" trisomy. Often exchange levels are reduced in a subset of cases where the nondisjoining chromosome fails to undergo recombination. For other trisomies, the placement of meiotic recombination has been altered. It appears that recombination too near the centromere or too far from the centromere imparts an increased risk for nondisjunction. Recent evidence from trisomy 21 also suggests an association may exist between recombination and maternal age, the most widely identified risk factor for aneuploidy. Among cases of maternal meiosis I-derived trisomy 21, increasing maternal age is associated with a decreasing frequency of recombination in the susceptible pericentromeric and telomeric regions. It is likely that multiple risk factors lead to nondisjunction, some age dependent and others age independent, some that act globally and others that are chromosome specific. Future studies are expected to shed new light on the timing and placement of recombination, providing additional clues to the link between altered recombination and chromosome nondisjunction., (Copyright 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Intergenerational mixing of DNA through meiotic recombinations of homologous chromosomes during gametogenesis is a major event that generates diversity in the eukaryotic genome. We examined genome-wide microsatellite data for 23,066 individuals, providing information on recombination events of 14,140 maternal and paternal meioses each, and found a positive correlation between maternal recombination counts of an offspring and maternal age. We postulated that the recombination rate of eggs does not increase with maternal age, but that the apparent increase is the consequence of selection. Specifically, a high recombination count increased the chance of a gamete becoming a live birth, and this effect became more pronounced with advancing maternal age. Further support for this hypothesis came from our observation that mothers with high oocyte recombination rate tend to have more children. Hence, not only do recombinations have a role in evolution by yielding diverse combinations of gene variants for natural selection, but they are also under selection themselves.

We present analytical methods to estimate the recombinational history of chromosomes in a human population. Our analysis, similar to those utilized in Drosophila, can be used to construct meiotic maps based upon crossover frequencies observed in family data. We apply this method of exchange estimation to a population of paternally and maternally inherited chromosomes 21. The patterns of chromosomal exchange estimated by this type of analysis are comparable to those obtained by the more technically difficult method of cytologically counting chiasmata among human male meiotic events (sperm). This type of analysis can be applied to both male and female meiosis, circumventing many technical problems inherent to cytological counting. Moreover, the distribution of exchange locations along a chromosome for each exchange type (i.e., single, double, or triple exchanges) can be examined individually, an advantage compared to examination of genetic maps that only provide a summary of these distributions. We discuss how this analysis can be used to examine various assumptions concerning meiotic exchange in humans and investigate properties of the analysis that contribute to the accuracy of the results.