Open AccessGenetic variation and random drift in autotetraploid populations.
Author(s) -
Michael L. Moody,
Laurence D. Mueller,
Douglas E. Soltis
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.792
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1943-2631
pISSN - 0016-6731
DOI - 10.1093/genetics/134.2.649
Subject(s) - biology , ploidy , outcrossing , loss of heterozygosity , genetic drift , mutation rate , genetics , population , genetic variation , evolutionary biology , allele , ecology , gene , demography , pollen , sociology
The rate of decay of genetic variation is determined for randomly mating autotetraploid populations of finite size, and the equilibrium homozygosity under mutation and random drift is calculated. It is shown that heterozygosity is lost at a slower rate than in diploid populations, and that the equilibrium heterozygosity with mutation and random drift is higher than for diploids. Outcrossing populations as well as populations that randomly self are analyzed. A method of comparing genetic variation between autotetraploid and diploid populations is proposed. Our treatment suggests that the "gametic homozygosity" provides a unified approach for comparing genotypes within a population as well as comparing genetic variation between populations with different levels of ploidy.