Here's why:
* Base pairs are the fundamental building blocks of DNA. Each base pair consists of two complementary nucleotide bases (adenine-thymine or guanine-cytosine) linked together by hydrogen bonds.
* Physical maps are created using techniques that directly measure the physical distances between genes, often by analyzing the DNA sequence itself.
* Genetic maps, on the other hand, use recombination frequencies to estimate distances between genes, which are measured in centimorgans (cM). Centimorgans represent the likelihood of two genes being separated during the process of genetic recombination.
Therefore, physical maps use base pairs (bp) as their unit of measurement for distances between genes, reflecting the actual physical distances between these genetic markers.
