Mutant Alleles of Small Effect Are Primarily Responsible for the Loss of Fitness With Slow Inbreeding in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 148 (3) ◽  
pp. 1143-1158 ◽  
Author(s):  
B D H Latter

AbstractMultilocus simulation is used to identify genetic models that can account for the observed rates of inbreeding and fitness decline in laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster. The experimental populations were maintained under crowded conditions for ~200 generations at a harmonic mean population size of Nh ~65–70. With a simulated population size of N = 50, and a mean selective disadvantage of homozygotes at individual loci ~1–2% or less, it is demonstrated that the mean effective population size over a 200-generation period may be considerably greater than N, with a ratio matching the experimental estimate of Ne/Nh ~1.4. The buildup of associative overdominance at electrophoretic marker loci is largely responsible for the stability of gene frequencies and the observed reduction in the rate of inbreeding, with apparent selection coefficients in favor of the heterozygote at neutral marker loci increasing rapidly over the first N generations of inbreeding to values ~5–10%. The observed decline in fitness under competitive conditions in populations of size ~50 in D. melanogaster therefore primarily results from mutant alleles with mean effects on fitness as homozygotes of sm ≤ 0.02. Models with deleterious recessive mutants at the background loci require that the mean selection coefficient against heterozygotes is at most hsm ~0.002, with a minimum mutation rate for a single Drosophila autosome 100 cM in length estimated to be in the range 0.05–0.25, assuming an exponential distribution of s. A typical chromosome would be expected to carry at least 100–200 such mutant alleles contributing to the decline in competitive fitness with slow inbreeding.

1980 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Wade

SUMMARYIn this paper I present the results of an experimental study of the effects of genotype and density on the mean and variance of offspring numbers in both sexes of the flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum. From the observed variance in offspring numbers the effective population size at several different densities is estimated using the methods of Crow & Morton (1955).I found that both the mean and variance of offspring numbers varied with genotype and density. In general, males were more variable in offspring numbers than females and this variability increased with density. Individuals homozygous for the black body colour mutant, b/b, were less variable in offspring numbers than + / + individuals, but the latter produced more offspring at most densities. As density increased, + / + individuals became more variable in offspring numbers whereas b/b individuals were less sensitive in this regard. These findings are discussed in relation to the ecology of selection at the black and closely linked loci.


Genetics ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 86 (3) ◽  
pp. 697-713
Author(s):  
C Chevalet ◽  
M Gillois ◽  
R F Nassar

ABSTRACT Properties of identity relation between genes are discussed, and a derivation of recurrent equations of identity coefficients in a random mating, diploid dioecious population is presented. Computations are run by repeated matrix multiplication. Results show that for effective population size (Ne) larger than 16 and no mutation, a given identity coefficient at any time t can be expressed approximately as a function of (1—f), (1—f)3 and (1—f)6, where f is the mean inbreeding coefficient at time t. Tables are presented, for small Ne values and extreme sex ratios, showing the pattern of change in the identity coefficients over time. The pattern of evolution of identity coefficients is also presented and discussed with respect to N eu, where u is the mutation rate. Applications of these results to the evolution of genetic variability within and between inbred lines are discussed.


1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Dahlin ◽  
U. N. Khan ◽  
A. H. Zafar ◽  
M. Saleem ◽  
M. A. Chaudhry ◽  
...  

AbstractThe present study was undertaken to assist conservation and improvement schemes in the Sahiwal breed of cattle in Pakistan. A data set, consisting of records of 244 pure Sahiwal breeding bulls and 5247 cows, the latter representing about 80% of all recorded Sahiwal cows in Pakistan born during a period covering about 20 years, was analysed with regard to inbreeding, additive relationships, effective population size and generation intervals. Average inbreeding coefficients of 1224 cows and 49 bulls, for which at least the grandparents and great-grandsires were known, were 0·043 and 0·046, respectively. About two-thirds of the inbreeding was due to matings between animals with parents or grandparents in common. The mean additive relationship among the cows was 0·062, with within-herd averages ranging from 0·087 to 0·358. The average population size in a subdata set of recorded Sahiwal cattle from 1980 to 1984 was 1612, whereas the most likely estimate of the effective population size was about 30 animals for the same active breeding population. The study indicated the immediate need for an active conservation programme whereby the Sahiwal subpopulations of India and Kenya also should be involved.


Genetics ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 130 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-916 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Caballero ◽  
W G Hill

Abstract Nonrandom mating whereby parents are related is expected to cause a reduction in effective population size because their gene frequencies are correlated and this will increase the genetic drift. The published equation for the variance effective size, Ne, which includes the possibility of nonrandom mating, does not take into account such a correlation, however. Further, previous equations to predict effective sizes in populations with partial sib mating are shown to be different, but also incorrect. In this paper, a corrected form of these equations is derived and checked by stochastic simulation. For the case of stable census number, N, and equal progeny distributions for each sex, the equation is [formula: see text], where Sk2 is the variance of family size and alpha is the departure from Hardy-Weinberg proportions. For a Poisson distribution of family size (Sk2 = 2), it reduces to Ne = N/(1 + alpha), as when inbreeding is due to selfing. When nonrandom mating occurs because there is a specified system of partial inbreeding every generation, alpha can be substituted by Wright's FIS statistic, to give the effective size as a function of the proportion of inbred mates.


1986 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Hill ◽  
Jonathan Rasbash

SummaryThe effects of mutation on mean and variance of response to selection for quantitative traits are investigated. The mutants are assumed to be unlinked, to be additive, and to have their effects symmetrically distributed about zero, with absolute values of effects having a gamma distribution. It is shown that the ratio of expected cumulative response to generation t from mutants, , and expected response over one generation from one generation of mutants, , is a function of t/N, where t is generations and N is effective population size. Similarly, , is a function of t/N, where is the increment in genetic variance from one generation of mutants. The mean and standard deviation of response from mutations relative to that from initial variation in the population, in the first generation, are functions of . Evaluation of these formulae for a range of parameters quantifies the important role that population size can play in response to long-term selection.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudipta Tung ◽  
Abhishek Mishra ◽  
Sutirth Dey

Although a large number of methods exist to control the dynamics of populations to a desired state, few of them have been empirically validated. This limits the scope of using these methods in real-life scenarios. To address this issue, we tested the efficacy of two well-known control methods in enhancing different kinds of stability in highly fluctuating, extinction-prone populations ofDrosophila melanogaster. The Upper Limiter Control (ULC) method was able to reduce the fluctuations in population sizes as well as the extinction probability of the populations. On the negative side, it had no effect on the effective population size and required a large amount of effort. On the other hand, Lower Limiter Control (LLC) enhanced effective population size and reduced extinction probability at a relatively low amount of effort. However, its effects on population fluctuations were equivocal. We examined the population size distributions with and without the control methods, to derive biologically intuitive explanations for how these control methods work. We also show that biologically-realistic simulations, using a very general population dynamics model, are able to capture most of the trends of our data. This suggests that our results are likely to be generalizable to a wide range of scenarios.


Genetics ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-337
Author(s):  
Wen-Hsiung Li

ABSTRACT Watterson's (1975) formula for the steady-state distribution of the number of nucleotide differences between two randomly chosen cistrons in a finite population has been extended to transient states. The rate for the mean of this distribution to approach its equilibrium value is 1/2 N and independent of mutation rate, but that for the variance is dependent on mutation rate, where N denotes the effective population size. Numerical computations show that if the heterozygosity (i.e., the probability that two cistrons are different) is low, say of the order of 0.1 or less, the probability that two cistrons differ at two or more nucleotide sites is less than 10 percent of the heterozygosity, whereas this probability may be as high as 50 percent of the heterozygosity if the heterozygosity is 0.5. A simple estimate for the mean number (d) of site differences between cistrons is d = h/(1 - h) where h is the heterozygosity. At equilibrium, the probability that two cistrons differ by more than one site is equal to h  2, the square of heterozygosity.


Genetics ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 123 (4) ◽  
pp. 789-801 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Houle

Abstract Two large experiments designed to detect allozyme-associated heterosis for growth rate in Drosophila melanogaster were performed. Heterosis associated with allozyme genotypes may be explained either by functional overdominance at the allozyme loci, or closely linked loci; or by genotypic correlations between allozyme loci and loci at which deleterious recessive alleles segregate. Such genotypic correlations would be favored by consanguineous mating, small effective population size, population mixing and strong natural or artificial selection. D. melanogaster is outbred, has large effective population size and there is little evidence for genotypic disequilibria. Therefore it would be unlikely to show allozyme heterosis due to genotypic correlations. In the first experiment I estimated the genotypic values of 97 replicated genotypes. In the second experiment, 500 individuals were raised in a fluctuating, stressful environment. In neither experiment was there any consistent evidence for allozyme heterosis in size or development rate, fluctuating asymmetry for size or in tendency to deviate from the population mean. In the first experiment, heterosis explained less than 5.6% of the genetic variance in growth characters. In the second, heterosis explained less than 0.1% of the phenotypic variance in growth characters. Outside of the molluscs, species which show allozyme heterosis have population structures or histories which tend to promote genotypic correlations. There is little evidence that functional overdominance is responsible for observations of allozyme-associated heterosis.


1999 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIDEKI INNAN ◽  
FUMIO TAJIMA

The effect of selection on the amounts of nucleotide variation within and between allelic classes was studied when two allelic classes exist in a population. Two selection models – the genic selection model and the overdominant selection model – were used. The average numbers of pairwise nucleotide differences within two allelic classes were investigated by computer simulation and the average number of pairwise differences between two allelic classes was obtained analytically. It was indicated that selection largely affects the amounts of variation within and between allelic classes. However, the sum of the average numbers of pairwise differences within two allelic classes is nearly constant and always close to θ(θ=4Nμ), even when selection is acting, where N is the effective population size and μ is the mutation rate per sequence per generation. This result suggests that the sum of the average numbers of pairwise differences within two allelic classes can be used to estimate θ. It may be useful for a region where selection may be acting. As examples, several gene regions of Drosophila melanogaster and a region of Mus domesticus were analysed. The effect of recombination on the sum of the average numbers of pairwise differences within two allelic classes was discussed.


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