A reevaluation of the Red Queen model for the maintenance of sex in a clonal-sexual fish complex (Poeciliidae: Poeciliopsis)

1996 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1157-1164
Author(s):  
S C Weeks
Keyword(s):  
Red Queen ◽  
Maintenance Of Sex ◽  
Red Queen Model ◽  
The Red Queen

scholarly journals The Red Queen model of recombination hot-spot evolution: a theoretical investigation

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1736) ◽  
pp. 20160463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibault Latrille ◽  
Laurent Duret ◽  
Nicolas Lartillot
Keyword(s):  
Gene Conversion ◽  
Recombination Rate ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Genetic Model ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Rate Variation ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Biased Gene Conversion ◽  
Red Queen Model ◽  
The Red Queen

In humans and many other species, recombination events cluster in narrow and short-lived hot spots distributed across the genome, whose location is determined by the Zn-finger protein PRDM9. To explain these fast evolutionary dynamics, an intra-genomic Red Queen model has been proposed, based on the interplay between two antagonistic forces: biased gene conversion, mediated by double-strand breaks, resulting in hot-spot extinction, followed by positive selection favouring new PRDM9 alleles recognizing new sequence motifs. Thus far, however, this Red Queen model has not been formalized as a quantitative population-genetic model, fully accounting for the intricate interplay between biased gene conversion, mutation, selection, demography and genetic diversity at the PRDM9 locus. Here, we explore the population genetics of the Red Queen model of recombination. A Wright–Fisher simulator was implemented, allowing exploration of the behaviour of the model (mean equilibrium recombination rate, diversity at the PRDM9 locus or turnover rate) as a function of the parameters (effective population size, mutation and erosion rates). In a second step, analytical results based on self-consistent mean-field approximations were derived, reproducing the scaling relations observed in the simulations. Empirical fit of the model to current data from the mouse suggests both a high mutation rate at PRDM9 and strong biased gene conversion on its targets. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Evolutionary causes and consequences of recombination rate variation in sexual organisms’.

scholarly journals The Red Queen Model of Recombination Hotspots Evolution in the Light of Archaic and Modern Human Genomes

PLoS Genetics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. e1004790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yann Lesecque ◽  
Sylvain Glémin ◽  
Nicolas Lartillot ◽  
Dominique Mouchiroud ◽  
Laurent Duret
Keyword(s):  
Modern Human ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Recombination Hotspots ◽  
Human Genomes ◽  
Red Queen Model ◽  
The Red Queen

scholarly journals Parasite Selection and the Fitness of Sexual Reproduction

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Samantha A. Klosak
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Reproduction ◽  
Natural Population ◽  
Reproductive Mode ◽  
Red Queen Hypothesis ◽  
Red Queen ◽  
Trematode Parasite ◽  
Maintenance Of Sex ◽  
Fitness Consequence ◽  
Offspring Generation ◽  
The Red Queen

Sexual reproduction is a very costly process: the growth rate of asexual lineages exceeds that of sexual lineages. Nonetheless, sex is prevalent in nature. The Red Queen Hypothesis argues that, because sex and recombination generate genetically variable offspring that may escape infection by coevolving parasites, parasites select for sex in hosts (Lively & Dybdahl, 2000). Our research directly tests if the Red Queen can explain the maintenance of sex in a natural population. This experiment focuses on a natural population of the snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum, which is native to New Zealand. Individuals of this species are either diploid and sexually reproducing or triploid and asexually reproducing (Lively & Osnas, 2006). This snail is naturally infected by the trematode parasite, Microphallus, which is sterilizing and thus exerts strong selection on its host. The Red Queen Hypothesis predicts that parasites should periodically increase the fitness of sexual relative to asexual individuals. We accordingly established mesocosms containing both sexual and asexual snails from the same natural population. Half of these mesocosms were exposed to parasites and the other half were not. These snails were then allowed to reproduce over the course of a year. We used flow cytometry to determine the frequency of diploids in the parents and the offspring, and thereby the fitness of sexual individuals in the presence and absence of parasites. Interestingly, we find that sexual individuals are currently more susceptible to parasites than are asexual individuals. In tanks in which sexual parents are relatively more infected, the frequency of sexual individuals declined significantly more in the offspring generation, indicating a fitness consequence of parasitism for sexual reproduction. Our findings suggest that parasite selection can indeed operate on reproductive mode. Moreover, our results are consistent with theory (King, Delph, Jokela, & Lively, 2009) and a prior field study in our system indicating that the direction of parasite selection is variable, such that parasites periodically select against sexual reproduction (Vergara, Lively, King, & Jokela, 2013). This current experiment will continue for multiple years in order to track the variation in parasite selection on sex through time. 

scholarly journals The Ratchet and the Red Queen: the maintenance of sex in parasites

2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 648-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Howard ◽  
C. M. Lively
Keyword(s):  
Red Queen ◽  
Maintenance Of Sex ◽  
The Red Queen

scholarly journals The maintenance of sex: Ronald Fisher meets the Red Queen

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 174 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Green ◽  
Chris Mason
Keyword(s):  
Red Queen ◽  
Maintenance Of Sex ◽  
The Red Queen
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