Population bottleneck has only marginal effect on fitness evolution and its repeatability in dioecious Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: The predictability of evolution is expected to depend on the relative contribution of deterministic and stochastic processes. This ratio is modulated by effective population size. Smaller effective populations harbor less genetic diversity and stochastic processes are generally expected to play a larger role, leading to less repeatable evolutionary trajectories. Empirical insight into the relationship between effective population size and repeatability is limited and focused mostly on asexual organisms. Here, we tested whether fitness evolution was less repeatable after a population bottleneck in obligately outcrossing populations of Caenorhabditis elegans. Replicated populations founded by 500, 50, or five individuals (no/moderate/strong bottleneck) were exposed to a novel environment wit

SUBMITTER: Bisschop K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9545033 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature