The spread of apomixis and its effect on resident genetic variation
Författare
Summary, in English
In a simulation model we investigated how much of the initial genetic variation that is retained in a population after a dominant mutation has brought apomixis to fixation in it. A marker allele associated with the apomixis mutation is generally retained after the fixation of apomixis, particularly if the two alleles are closely linked. The spread of asexuality, however, normally leads to almost no loss of genetic variation, neither with respect to cytotypes nor with respect to genotypes. This holds for large populations and apomixis mutants with strong pollen production. In smaller populations, and with apomicts with reduced pollen production, the outcome is more variable, ranging from no genetic variation retained to only weakly reduced variability compared with the initial state. These results help explain the high genetic variability in many apomicts. They also imply that natural selection will have many genotypes to act on even after the spread of apomixis.
Avdelning/ar
- MEMEG
- Evolutionary Genetics
Publiceringsår
2007
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
1933-1940
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Journal of evolutionary biology
Volym
20
Issue
5
Länkar
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
Nyckelord
- apomixis
- genetic variation
- cytotypes
- asexual reproduction
- GMO
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Evolutionary Genetics
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1420-9101