Uniparental Inheritance Promotes Adaptive Evolution in Cytoplasmic Genomes.

ABSTRACT: Eukaryotes carry numerous asexual cytoplasmic genomes (mitochondria and plastids). Lacking recombination, asexual genomes should theoretically suffer from impaired adaptive evolution. Yet, empirical evidence indicates that cytoplasmic genomes experience higher levels of adaptive evolution than predicted by theory. In this study, we use a computational model to show that the unique biology of cytoplasmic genomes-specifically their organization into host cells and their uniparental (maternal) inheritance-enable them to undergo effective adaptive evolution. Uniparental inheritance of cytoplasmic genomes decreases competition between different beneficial substitutions (clonal interference), promoting the accumulation of beneficial substitutions. Uniparental inheritance also facilitates selecti

SUBMITTER: Christie JR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5896580 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature