Mutation Accumulation in an Asexual Relative of Arabidopsis.

ABSTRACT: Asexual populations experience weaker responses to natural selection, which causes deleterious mutations to accumulate over time. Additionally, stochastic loss of individuals free of deleterious mutations can lead to an irreversible increase in mutational load in asexuals (the "click" in Muller's Ratchet). Here we report on the genomic divergence and distribution of mutations across eight sympatric pairs of sexual and apomictic (asexual) Boechera (Brassicaceae) genotypes. We show that apomicts harbor a greater number of derived mutations than sympatric sexual genotypes. Furthermore, in phylogenetically constrained sites that are subject to contemporary purifying selection, the ancestral, conserved allele is more likely to be retained in sexuals than apomicts. These results indicate that ap

SUBMITTER: Lovell JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5261742 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature