Hitchhiking of deleterious alleles and the cost of adaptation in partially selfing species.

ABSTRACT: Self-fertilization is generally seen to be disadvantageous in the long term. It increases genetic drift, which subsequently reduces polymorphism and the efficiency of selection, which also challenges adaptation. However, high selfing rates can increase the fixation probability of recessive beneficial mutations, but existing theory has generally not accounted for the effect of linked sites. Here, we analyze a model for the fixation probability of deleterious mutants that hitchhike with selective sweeps in diploid, partially selfing populations. Approximate analytical solutions show that, conditional on the sweep not being lost by drift, higher inbreeding rates increase the fixation probability of the deleterious allele, due to the resulting reduction in polymorphism and effective recombinat

SUBMITTER: Hartfield M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3872191 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature