Conflicting effects of recombination on the evolvability and robustness in neutrally evolving populations.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the benefits and costs of recombination under different scenarios of evolutionary adaptation remains an open problem for theoretical and experimental research. In this study, we focus on finite populations evolving on neutral networks comprising viable and unfit genotypes. We provide a comprehensive overview of the effects of recombination by jointly considering different measures of evolvability and mutational robustness over a broad parameter range, such that many evolutionary regimes are covered. We find that several of these measures vary non-monotonically with the rates of mutation and recombination. Moreover, the presence of unfit genotypes that introduce inhomogeneities in the network of viable states qualitatively alters the effects of recombination. We conclude that

SUBMITTER: Klug A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9721492 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature