Mutation Rate Evolution in Partially Selfing and Partially Asexual Organisms.

ABSTRACT: Different factors can influence the evolution of the mutation rate of a species: costs associated with DNA replication fidelity, indirect selection caused by the mutations produced (that should generally favor lower mutation rates, given that most mutations affecting fitness are deleterious), and genetic drift, which may render selection acting on weak mutators inefficient. In this paper, we use a two-locus model to compute the strength of indirect selection acting on a modifier locus that affects the mutation rate toward a deleterious allele at a second, linked, locus, in a population undergoing partial selfing or partial clonality. The results show that uniparental reproduction increases the effect of indirect selection for lower mutation rates. Extrapolating to the case of a whole genom

SUBMITTER: Gervais C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5714466 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature