Predicting the evolution of sex on complex fitness landscapes.

ABSTRACT: Most population genetic theories on the evolution of sex or recombination are based on fairly restrictive assumptions about the nature of the underlying fitness landscapes. Here we use computer simulations to study the evolution of sex on fitness landscapes with different degrees of complexity and epistasis. We evaluate predictors of the evolution of sex, which are derived from the conditions established in the population genetic literature for the evolution of sex on simpler fitness landscapes. These predictors are based on quantities such as the variance of Hamming distance, mean fitness, additive genetic variance, and epistasis. We show that for complex fitness landscapes all the predictors generally perform poorly. Interestingly, while the simplest predictor, Delta Var(HD), also suffer

SUBMITTER: Misevic D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2734178 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature