Recombination and peak jumping
  We find an advantage of recombination for a category of complex fitness landscapes. Recent studies of empirical fitness landscapes reveal complex gene interactions and multiple peaks, and recombination can be a powerful mechanism for escaping suboptimal peaks. However classical work on recombination largely ignores the effect of complex gene interactions. The advantage we find has no correspondence for 2-locus systems or for smooth landscapes. The effect is sometimes extreme, in the sense that shutting off recombination could result in that the organism fails to adapt. A standard question about recombination is if the mechanism tends to accelerate or decelerate adaptation. However, we argue that extreme effects may be more important than how the majority falls. 
Kristina Crona
q-bio.PE