Accumulation of spontaneous mutations in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge of the rate and fitness effects of mutations is essential for understanding the process of evolution. Mutations are inherently difficult to study because they are rare and are frequently eliminated by natural selection. In the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila, mutations can accumulate in the germline genome without being exposed to selection. We have conducted a mutation accumulation (MA) experiment in this species. Assuming that all mutations are deleterious and have the same effect, we estimate that the deleterious mutation rate per haploid germline genome per generation is U=0.0047 (95% credible interval: 0.0015, 0.0125), and that germline mutations decrease fitness by s=11% when expressed in a homozygous state (95% CI: 4.4%, 27%). We also estimate that deleterious mutations ar

SUBMITTER: Long HA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3781978 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature