Sexual selection for males with beneficial mutations.

ABSTRACT: Sexual selection is the process by which traits providing a mating advantage are favoured. Theoretical treatments of the evolution of sex by sexual selection propose that it operates by reducing the load of deleterious mutations. Here, we postulate instead that sexual selection primarily acts through females preferentially mating with males carrying beneficial mutations. We used simulation and analytical modelling to investigate the evolutionary dynamics of beneficial mutations in the presence of sexual selection. We found that female choice for males with beneficial mutations had a much greater impact on genetic quality than choice for males with low mutational load. We also relaxed the typical assumption of a fixed mutation rate. For deleterious mutations, mutation rate should always be

SUBMITTER: Roberts G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9308816 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature