The evolution of selfing is accompanied by reduced efficacy of selection and purging of deleterious mutations.

ABSTRACT: The transition from outcrossing to selfing is predicted to reduce the genome-wide efficacy of selection because of the lower effective population size (Ne) that accompanies this change in mating system. However, strongly recessive deleterious mutations exposed in the homozygous backgrounds of selfers should be under strong purifying selection. Here, we examine estimates of the distribution of fitness effects (DFE) and changes in the magnitude of effective selection coefficients (Nes) acting on mutations during the transition from outcrossing to selfing. Using forward simulations, we investigated the ability of a DFE inference approach to detect the joint influence of mating system and the dominance of deleterious mutations on selection efficacy. We investigated predictions from our simulat

SUBMITTER: Arunkumar R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4349074 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature