Coadaptation of mitochondrial and nuclear genes, and the cost of mother's curse.

ABSTRACT: Strict maternal inheritance renders the mitochondrial genome susceptible to accumulating mutations that harm males, but are otherwise benign or beneficial for females. This 'mother's curse' effect can degrade male survival and fertility if unopposed by counteracting evolutionary processes. Coadaptation between nuclear and mitochondrial genomes-with nuclear genes evolving to compensate for male-harming mitochondrial substitutions-may ultimately resolve mother's curse. However, males are still expected to incur a transient fitness cost during mito-nuclear coevolution, and it remains unclear how severe such costs should be. We present a population genetic analysis of mito-nuclear coadaptation to resolve mother's curse effects, and show that the magnitude of the 'male mitochondrial load'-the n

SUBMITTER: Connallon T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5805934 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature