Many of his papers in this area were concerned with genetic recombination, with the rearrangement of genes on paired chromosomes that occurs during reproduction, a phenomenon known as crossing over. Perkins developed techniques for mapping genes and centromeres on chromosomes based on the occasional errors, such as duplications and translocations, that occur in recombination.
Perkins' research explored genetic recombination, specifically the process by which genes are rearranged on paired chromosomes during reproduction, known as crossing over. He developed techniques for tracing gene locations and centromere positions on chromosomes by analyzing errors that sometimes occur during recombination.