Simple Biophysical Model Predicts Faster Accumulation of Hybrid Incompatibilities in Small Populations Under Stabilizing Selection.

ABSTRACT: Speciation is fundamental to the process of generating the huge diversity of life on Earth. However, we are yet to have a clear understanding of its molecular-genetic basis. Here, we examine a computational model of reproductive isolation that explicitly incorporates a map from genotype to phenotype based on the biophysics of protein-DNA binding. In particular, we model the binding of a protein transcription factor to a DNA binding site and how their independent coevolution, in a stabilizing fitness landscape, of two allopatric lineages leads to incompatibilities. Complementing our previous coarse-grained theoretical results, our simulations give a new prediction for the monomorphic regime of evolution that smaller populations should develop incompatibilities more quickly. This arises as (

SUBMITTER: Khatri BS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4676520 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature