Population structure can reduce clonal interference when sexual reproduction and dispersal are synchronized

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Population genetics
• Theoretical ecology

Background:

• Clonal interference among beneficial mutations limits adaptation rates in populations with low recombination.
• Spatial structure can exacerbate clonal interference in asexual populations.
• The interplay between spatial structure and recombination in modulating clonal interference remains poorly understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how synchronized dispersal and sexual reproduction interact with spatial structure to influence clonal interference.
• To determine if synchronized dispersal and recombination can enhance adaptation rates compared to well-mixed populations.

Main Methods:

• Simulated island models of populations evolving on a smooth fitness landscape.
• Compared adaptation rates in spatially structured populations with synchronized dispersal/recombination versus well-mixed populations.

Main Results:

• Synchronized dispersal and sexual reproduction enable faster adaptation than in well-mixed populations of equivalent size.
• Spatial structure maintains greater genetic diversity.
• Synchronization increases the likelihood of recombination between diverged demes, effectively reducing negative linkage disequilibrium.

Conclusions:

• Synchronized dispersal and sexual reproduction can overcome limitations imposed by clonal interference.
• The spatial structure, combined with synchronized reproductive events, optimizes the reduction of negative linkage disequilibrium, thereby accelerating evolutionary adaptation.