Polymorphism and the Red Queen: the selective maintenance of allelic variation in a deteriorating environment.

ABSTRACT: Although allelic variation is ubiquitous in natural populations, our theoretical models are poor at predicting the existence and properties of these observed polymorphisms. In this study, inspired by Van Valen's Red Queen hypothesis, we modeled the effect of viability selection in a deteriorating environment on the properties of allelic variation in populations subject to recurrent mutation. In Monte Carlo simulations, we found that levels of polymorphism consistently built up over time. We censused the simulated populations after 10,000 generations of mutation and selection, revealing that, compared with models assuming a constant environment, the mean number of alleles was greater, as was the range of allele numbers. These results were qualitatively robust to the addition of genetic drif

SUBMITTER: Spencer HG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11228834 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature