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Wagner GP, Gabriel W. QUANTITATIVE VARIATION IN FINITE PARTHENOGENETIC POPULATIONS: WHAT STOPS MULLER'S RATCHET IN THE ABSENCE OF RECOMBINATION?. Evolution. 1990;44(3):715-731doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb05950.x.
Wagner, G. P., & Gabriel, W. (1990). QUANTITATIVE VARIATION IN FINITE PARTHENOGENETIC POPULATIONS: WHAT STOPS MULLER'S RATCHET IN THE ABSENCE OF RECOMBINATION?. Evolution; international journal of organic evolution, 44(3), 715-731. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb05950.x
Wagner, Günter P, and Gabriel, Wilfred. "QUANTITATIVE VARIATION IN FINITE PARTHENOGENETIC POPULATIONS: WHAT STOPS MULLER'S RATCHET IN THE ABSENCE OF RECOMBINATION?." Evolution; international journal of organic evolution vol. 44,3 (1990): 715-731. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb05950.x
Wagner GP, Gabriel W. QUANTITATIVE VARIATION IN FINITE PARTHENOGENETIC POPULATIONS: WHAT STOPS MULLER'S RATCHET IN THE ABSENCE OF RECOMBINATION?. Evolution. 1990 May;44(3):715-731. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb05950.x. PMID: 28567981.
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Evolution. 1990 May;44(3):715-731. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb05950.x.

QUANTITATIVE VARIATION IN FINITE PARTHENOGENETIC POPULATIONS: WHAT STOPS MULLER'S RATCHET IN THE ABSENCE OF RECOMBINATION?.

Evolution; international journal of organic evolution

Günter P Wagner, Wilfred Gabriel

Affiliations

  1. Institute for Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, A-1090, Vienna, AUSTRIA.
  2. Max Planck Institute for Limnology, Department of Physiological Ecology, P. O. Box 165, D-2320, Plön, FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY.

PMID: 28567981 DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1990.tb05950.x

Abstract

Finite parthenogenetic populations with high genomic mutation rates accumulate deleterious mutations if back mutations are rare. This mechanism, known as Muller's ratchet, can explain the rarity of parthenogenetic species among so called higher organisms. However, estimates of genomic mutation rates for deleterious alleles and their average effect in the diploid condition in Drosophila suggest that Muller's ratchet should eliminate parthenogenetic insect populations within several hundred generations, provided all mutations are unconditionally deleterious. This fact is inconsistent with the existence of obligatory parthenogenetic insect species. In this paper an analysis of the extent to which compensatory mutations can counter Muller's ratchet is presented. Compensatory mutations are defined as all mutations that compensate for the phenotypic effects of a deleterious mutation. In the case of quantitative traits under stabilizing selection, the rate of compensatory mutations is easily predicted. It is shown that there is a strong analogy between the Muller's ratchet model of Felsenstein (1974) and the quantitative genetic model considered here, except for the frequency of compensatory mutations. If the intensity of stabilizing selection is too small or the mutation rate too high, the optimal genotype becomes extinct and the population mean drifts from the optimum but still reaches a stationary distribution. This distance is essentially the same as predicted for sexually reproducing populations under the same circumstances. Hence, at least in the short run, compensatory mutations for quantitative characters are as effective as recombination in halting the decline of mean fitness otherwise caused by Muller's ratchet. However, it is questionable whether compensatory mutations can prevent Muller's ratchet in the long run because there might be a limit to the capacity of the genome to provide compensatory mutations without eliminating deleterious mutations at least during occasional episodes of sex.

© 1990 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

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