Recombination, selection, and the evolution of tandem gene arrays.

ABSTRACT: Multigene families-immunity genes or sensory receptors, for instance-are often subject to diversifying selection. Allelic diversity may be favored not only through balancing or frequency-dependent selection at individual loci but also by associating different alleles in multicopy gene families. Using a combination of analytical calculations and simulations, we explored a population genetic model of epistatic selection and unequal recombination, where a trade-off exists between the benefit of allelic diversity and the cost of copy abundance. Starting from the neutral case, where we showed that gene copy number is Gamma distributed at equilibrium, we derived also the mean and shape of the limiting distribution under selection. Considering a more general model, which includes variable populat

SUBMITTER: Otto M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9252282 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature