# Genetic Recombination **Domain:** Genetics / Inheritance / Variation **Doc Type:** Canonical Concept Node **Maturity:** Foundational ## Definition **Genetic recombination** creates new combinations of genetic material through exchange or reassortment of DNA. ## Evolutionary Nexus Joshua Lederberg's Nobel-recognized bacterial work showed that bacterial inheritance could include recombination rather than simple clonal copying. [[articles/The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley|The Evolutionary Roots of Silicon Valley]] places this discovery upstream of his AI and exobiology work. ## Continuity Context Recombination makes descent reticulate. A descendant can inherit from multiple sources, strengthening the need to distinguish provenance from identity in merged models and reconstructed persons. ## See Also [[wiki/Joshua Lederberg|Joshua Lederberg]], [[wiki/Horizontal Gene Transfer|Horizontal Gene Transfer]], [[wiki/Descent vs Derivation|Descent vs Derivation]], [[wiki/Convergence|Convergence]]