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Deleterious mutations as an evolutionary factor: 1. The advantage of recombination
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2009
- Alexey S. Kondrashov
- Affiliation:Research Computer Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 142292 Pushchino, Moscow Region, USSR
Summary
A population withu deleterious mutations per genome per generation is considered in which only those individuals that carry less than a critical number ofk mutations are viable. It has been shown previously that under such conditions sexual reproduction is advantageous. Here we consider selection at a locus that determines recombination frequency of the whole genome. The valuev =u/ √k has been found to play the decisive role. Whenv < 0·35 the direction of selection for recombination may be different for different cases, but the intensity of selection is always very small. The advantage of recombination becomes considerable whenv > 0·5, its growth under increasingv being approximately linear. Ifv > 2 no less than 95% of the progeny are bound to die because of the selection against deleterious mutations. Since this seems to be too great a mutation load, we may assume 0·5 < v < 2·0 for any sexual population if mutation really maintains crossing-over. Results on selection at a locus which controls mutability provide evidence thatv is located within the specified interval if the physiological cost of a twofold reduction of the mutation rate is within the range 10–80%. A number of consequences of this hypothesis about the mechanism of selection for sex and recombination are discussed.
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- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984
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