Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Escape from evolutionary stasis by transposon-mediated deleterious mutations

J McFadden1, G Knowles

  • 1School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, U.K.

Journal of Theoretical Biology
|June 21, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Transposable elements, or mobile DNA, can drive rapid evolution by causing irreversible mutations, enabling populations to escape evolutionary stasis and potentially form new species. This study models how these elements facilitate speciation events.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Impact of variant histology on upstaging and survival in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer undergoing radical cystectomy.

Urologic oncology·2024
Same author

Referral patterns and genetic testing outcomes in a contemporary hereditary renal cancer clinic.

Urologic oncology·2024
Same author

Phenotypic heterogeneity in persisters: a novel 'hunker' theory of persistence.

FEMS microbiology reviews·2021
Same author

Ovine abortion and stillbirth investigations in Australia.

Australian veterinary journal·2020
Same author

A biobank analysis of prognostic biomarkers of the systemic inflammatory response in patients presenting with malignancy of undefined primary origin.

European journal of cancer (Oxford, England : 1990)·2020
Same author

Diverse strains of Actinobacillus lignieresii isolated from clinically affected cattle in a geographically restricted area.

Australian veterinary journal·2019

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Genetics
  • Computational biology

Background:

  • Organisms can become trapped in evolutionary stasis on local adaptive peaks.
  • The mechanisms by which founder populations escape stasis to speciate are not fully understood.
  • Transposable elements are mobile DNA sequences found across all domains of life, often considered genomic parasites.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of transposable elements in promoting evolutionary change and speciation.
  • To model how transposon-mediated mutations can help populations escape evolutionary stasis.
  • To explore the impact of transposons on the rate of evolution in digital organisms.

Main Methods:

  • Development of a genetic algorithm to simulate asexual digital organisms.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Modeling of both spontaneous and transposon-mediated mutations within an artificial adaptive landscape.
  • Analysis of evolutionary trajectories and speciation events under different mutation conditions.

    • Main Results:

    • Digital organisms without transposon mutations quickly reached an adaptive peak and entered stasis.
    • Transposon-mediated mutations, while often causing stasis, also led to bursts of rapid evolution.
    • These bursts allowed populations to colonize previously unoccupied adaptive peaks, mimicking speciation.

    Conclusions:

    • Transposable elements can act as catalysts for rapid evolutionary change, facilitating escape from adaptive peaks.
    • Transposon-induced deleterious mutations may be a key mechanism initiating speciation events.
    • Mobile DNA elements play a crucial role in overcoming evolutionary stasis and driving diversification.