Population Heterogeneity in Mutation Rate Increases the Frequency of Higher-Order Mutants and Reduces Long-Term Mutational Load.

ABSTRACT: Mutation rate is a crucial evolutionary parameter that has typically been treated as a constant in population genetic analyses. However, the propensity to mutate is likely to vary among co-existing individuals within a population, due to genetic polymorphisms, heterogeneous environmental influences, and random physiological fluctuations. We review the evidence for mutation rate heterogeneity and explore its consequences by extending classic population genetic models to allow an arbitrary distribution of mutation rate among individuals, either with or without inheritance. With this general new framework, we rigorously establish the effects of heterogeneity at various evolutionary timescales. In a single generation, variation of mutation rate about the mean increases the probability of produ

SUBMITTER: Alexander HK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5850754 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature