Consequences of Asexuality in Natural Populations: Insights from Stick Insects.

ABSTRACT: Recombination is a fundamental process with significant impacts on genome evolution. Predicted consequences of the loss of recombination include a reduced effectiveness of selection, changes in the amount of neutral polymorphisms segregating in populations, and an arrest of GC-biased gene conversion. Although these consequences are empirically well documented for nonrecombining genome portions, it remains largely unknown if they extend to the whole genome scale in asexual organisms. We identify the consequences of asexuality using de novo transcriptomes of five independently derived, obligately asexual lineages of stick insects, and their sexual sister-species. We find strong evidence for higher rates of deleterious mutation accumulation, lower levels of segregating polymorphisms and arres

SUBMITTER: Bast J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5995167 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature