Normal and abnormal interchanges between the human X and Y chromosomes

A single obligatory recombination event takes place at male meiosis in the tips of the X- and Y-chromosome short arms (i.e. the pseudoautosomal region). The crossover point is at variable locations and thus allows recombination mapping of the pseudoautosomal loci along a gradient of sex linkage. Recombination at male meiosis in the terminal regions of the short arms of the X and Y chromosomes is 10- to 20-fold higher than between the same regions of the X chromosomes during female meiosis. The human pseudoautosomal region is rich in highly polymorphic loci associated with minisatellites. However, these minisatellites are unrelated to those resembling the bacterial Chi sequence and which possibly represent recombination hotspots. The high recombination activity of the pseudoautosomal region at male meiosis sometimes results in unequal crossover which can generate various sex-reversal syndromes.