BioConcepts

recombinationrecombination (fr.); Rekombination (ger.)

• The rearrangement of genetic material, or of the corresponding heritable characteristics, by natural or artificial means; esp. the generation of a new combination of existing genes by the exchange of segments between chromosomes, as (in sexual reproduction) by crossing over during meiosis between pairs of homologous chromosomes derived from each parent. Also: the biochemical processes involved in this. (OED 2009) 
  category recombination

  1783

  [Having shewn that the principles of the nitrous acid are capable of disunion and recombination, it remains for me to demonstrate that we may produce the same effect with materials which are not all derived from the nitrous acid. [original: Lavoisier, A.L. (1776). Mémoire sur l’existence de l’air dans l’acide nitreux et sur les moyens de decomposer et de recomposer cet acide: on peut désunir les principes de l’acide nitreux et les recombiner]

  Henry, T. (transl.) (1783). Lavoisier, A.L., Essays on the Effects Produced by Various Processes on Atmospheric Air: 65.]

  1783

  [All chemical operations are reducible to analysis or synthesis, that is, to discombination, as it may be called, and recombination of substances.

  Anonymus (transl.) (1783). Bergman, T., An Essay on the Usefulness of Chemistry [original: Anledning till föresläsningar öfver chemiens beskaffenhet och nytta]: 15.]

  1903

  In conclusion, since the resolution of a compound character may be spoken of as an analysis leading to a distribution of the components among the gametes, the term synthesis should surely be reserved for a recombination that has taken place in such a way that the gametes become bearers of the compound character again, as they were in the pure compound form.

  Bateson, W. (1903). Note on the resolution of compound characters by cross-breeding. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 12, 50-54: 53. 

  1903

  In some cases of this sort, as in coat-color of mammals, the hybrid character probably results from a recombination of the characters seen in one or both parentswith certain other characters latent (that is, recessive) in one parent or the other.

  Castle, W.E. (1903). Mendel’s law of heredity. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 38, 535-548: 546; id. (1903). Mendel’s law of heredity. Science 18, 396-406: 405.

  1909

  novelties resulting through re-combination of the factors brought in by the original pure types

  Bateson, W. (1909). Mendel’s Principles of Heredity: 71.

  1923

  recombination of linked characters

  Bridges, C.B. & Morgan, T.H. (1923). The third-chromosome group of mutant characters of Drosophila melanogaster. Publ. Carnegie Inst. Wash. 327: 9.

  1982

  recombination Any process that gives rise to a new combination of hereditary determinants, such as the reassortment of parental genes during meiosis through crossing over.

  Lincoln, R.J., Boxshall, G.A. & Clark, P.F. (1982). A Dictionary of Ecology, Evolution and Systematics: 212.

  2011

  Die Rekombination ist der Prozess der Neukombination von genetischem Material, der bei sexuell sich fortpflanzenden Organismen durch die Verschmelzung von Ei und Samenzelle bei der Befruchtung erfolgt.

  Toepfer, G. (2011). Historisches Wörterbuch der Biologie. Geschichte und Theorie der biologischen Grundbegriffe, vol 3: 200.