Sexual selection and inbreeding: Two efficient ways to limit the accumulation of deleterious mutations.

ABSTRACT: Theory and empirical data showed that two processes can boost selection against deleterious mutations, thus facilitating the purging of the mutation load: inbreeding, by exposing recessive deleterious alleles to selection in homozygous form, and sexual selection, by enhancing the relative reproductive success of males with small mutation loads. These processes tend to be mutually exclusive because sexual selection is reduced under mating systems that promote inbreeding, such as self-fertilization in hermaphrodites. We estimated the relative efficiency of inbreeding and sexual selection at purging the genetic load, using 50 generations of experimental evolution, in a hermaphroditic snail (Physa acuta). To this end, we generated lines that were exposed to various intensities of inbree

SUBMITTER: Noel E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6369961 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature