Asexual but Not Clonal: Evolutionary Processes in Automictic Populations.

ABSTRACT: Many parthenogenetically reproducing animals produce offspring not clonally but through different mechanisms collectively referred to as automixis. Here, meiosis proceeds normally but is followed by a fusion of meiotic products that restores diploidy. This mechanism typically leads to a reduction in heterozygosity among the offspring compared to the mother. Following a derivation of the rate at which heterozygosity is lost at one and two loci, depending on the number of crossovers between loci and centromere, a number of models are developed to gain a better understanding of basic evolutionary processes in automictic populations. Analytical results are obtained for the expected neutral genetic variation, effective population size, mutation-selection balance, selection with overdominance, t

SUBMITTER: Engelstadter J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5499200 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature