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Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift01:09

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In a population that is not at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of alleles changes over time. Therefore, any deviations from the five conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium can alter the genetic variation of a given population. Conditions that change the genetic variability of a population include mutations, natural selection, non-random mating, gene flow, and genetic drift (small population size).
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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Organisms are capable of detecting and fixing nucleotide mismatches that occur during DNA replication. This sophisticated process requires identifying the new strand and replacing the erroneous bases with correct nucleotides. Mismatch repair is coordinated by many proteins in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
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Sexual selection can remove an experimentally induced mutation load.

Maria Almbro1, Leigh W Simmons

  • 1Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, 6009, Australia.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|December 31, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sexual selection efficiently removes mutations affecting male strength in dung beetles. This process enhances population fitness by purging deleterious genetic variations, though it was less effective for traits like testes mass.

Keywords:
Fitness variationmutationssexual selectionsperm competition

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics
  • Animal Behavior

Background:

  • Sexual selection is hypothesized to remove deleterious mutations, thereby increasing population fitness and accelerating adaptation.
  • It also plays a role in compensating for the inherent disadvantages of sexual reproduction, known as the two-fold cost of sex.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To empirically test the effectiveness of sexual selection in purging induced deleterious mutations in the dung beetle Onthophagus taurus.
  • To investigate the impact of mutations and sexual selection on male sexual traits and female productivity.

Main Methods:

  • Induced mutations in Onthophagus taurus using ionizing radiation.
  • Assessed the effects of mutations on male precopulatory (strength) and postcopulatory (testes mass) traits.
  • Applied two generations of sexual selection to observe mutation removal and its impact on traits and female productivity.

Main Results:

  • Induced mutations negatively impacted male strength and testes mass.
  • Two generations of sexual selection effectively removed mutations affecting male strength.
  • Mutations did not impair female productivity, which was enhanced by sexual selection.
  • Sexual selection showed a limited effect on purging mutations affecting testes mass.

Conclusions:

  • Condition-dependent traits serve as significant targets for mutational variation.
  • Sexual selection can effectively purge the genome of deleterious mutations, particularly those affecting condition-dependent traits.
  • This purging mechanism contributes to the promotion of overall population fitness.