Parental care results in a greater mutation load, for which it is also a phenotypic antidote.

ABSTRACT: Benevolent social behaviours, such as parental care, are thought to enable mildly deleterious mutations to persist. We tested this prediction experimentally using the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, an insect with biparental care. For 20 generations, we allowed replicate experimental burying beetle populations to evolve either with post-hatching care ('Full Care' populations) or without it ('No Care' populations). We then established new lineages, seeded from these experimental populations, which we inbred to assess their mutation load. Outbred lineages served as controls. We also tested whether the deleterious effects of a greater mutation load could be concealed by parental care by allowing half the lineages to receive post-hatching care, while half did not. We found that

SUBMITTER: Pascoal S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10206465 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature