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Related Experiment Videos

Relative fitness can decrease in evolving asexual populations of S. cerevisiae.

C E Paquin1, J Adams

  • 1Division of Biological Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.

Nature
|November 24, 1983
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Evolutionary theory predicts increasing population fitness. However, this study demonstrates that epistatic interactions between adaptive mutations can paradoxically decrease mean population fitness in yeast.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Population genetics
  • Microbiology

Background:

  • Darwinian evolution posits that populations with genetic variation in fitness progressively adapt.
  • Theoretical population genetics describes exceptions where mean fitness may decrease due to factors like epistasis.
  • Empirical evidence for such fitness decrease exceptions has been lacking in natural or experimental populations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide direct empirical evidence for a decrease in mean population fitness during evolution.
  • To investigate the role of epistatic interactions between adaptive mutations in driving fitness decline.
  • To document this phenomenon in an experimental model system.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized asexual evolving populations of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Estimated population fitness through direct measurements.
  • Analyzed the impact of epistatic interactions between adaptive mutations on fitness trajectories.

    • Main Results:

    • Demonstrated a decrease in mean population fitness in evolving yeast populations.
    • Attributed this fitness decline to epistatic interactions among adaptive mutations.
    • Provided the first direct experimental evidence for evolutionary exceptions leading to reduced population fitness.

    Conclusions:

    • Epistatic interactions between adaptive mutations can cause mean population fitness to decrease.
    • This finding challenges the universal assumption of progressive adaptation in evolutionary theory.
    • The study provides a documented example of evolutionary exceptions in experimental populations.