Evolution of GC-biased gene conversion by natural selection.

ABSTRACT: GC-biased gene conversion is a recombination-associated evolutionary process that biases the segregation ratio of AT:GC polymorphisms in the gametes of heterozygotes, in favor of GC alleles. This process is the major determinant of the variation in base composition across the human genome and can be the cause of a substantial burden of deleterious GC alleles. While the importance of GC-biased gene conversion in molecular evolution is increasingly recognized, the reasons for its existence and its variation in intensity between species remain largely unknown. Using simulations and semi-analytical approximations, we investigated the evolution of GC-biased gene conversion as a quantitative trait evolving by mutation, drift, and natural selection. We show that in a finite population in which mo

SUBMITTER: Clessin A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12341927 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature