Final answer:
Frequent recombination between mutations suggests they are close together on a gene, and infrequent recombination suggests they are far apart. The recombination frequency correlates with the physical distance between genes on a chromosome.
Step-by-step explanation:
Seymour Benzer showed that he could map the structure of a gene by observing recombination events between mutations. Frequent recombination between two mutations on a single gene indicated that the mutations were close together on the gene, whereas infrequent recombination between two mutations indicated that the mutations were far apart on the gene.
To construct a chromosome map, researchers like Sturtevant assumed that genes were ordered serially on chromosomes and that the likelihood of recombination between two alleles, which is to say their recombination frequency, correlated with their genetic distance from each other. This concept is illustrated by the fact that alleles located close to each other on a chromosome are less likely to undergo recombination, therefore suggesting proximity, while alleles that are far apart have higher recombination frequencies and are thus further away from each other on the chromosome.
In summary, the frequency of recombination events provides insights into the physical distance between genes, with more frequent recombination indicating closer proximity and less frequent recombination suggesting a larger distance between the involved genes on a chromosome.