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RAPID EVOLUTION OF CHEATING MITOCHONDRIAL GENOMES IN SMALL YEAST POPULATIONS
Author(s) -
Jasmin JeanNicolas,
Zeyl Clifford
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/evo.12228
Subject(s) - biology , mitochondrial dna , natural selection , genetics , heteroplasmy , meiotic drive , evolutionary biology , non mendelian inheritance , genetic fitness , experimental evolution , cheating , allele , meiosis , sperm competition , mutation , genome , selection (genetic algorithm) , gene , mating , artificial intelligence , computer science
Outcrossed sex exposes genes to competition with their homologues, allowing alleles that transmit more often than their competitors to spread despite organismal fitness costs. Mitochondrial populations in species with biparental inheritance are thought to be especially susceptible to such cheaters because they lack strict transmission rules like meiosis or maternal inheritance. Yet the interaction between mutation and natural selection in the evolution of cheating mitochondrial genomes has not been tested experimentally. Using yeast experimental populations, we show that although cheaters were rare in a large sample of spontaneous respiratory‐deficient mitochondrial mutations ( petites ), cheaters evolve under experimentally enforced outcrossing even when mutation supply and selection are restricted by repeatedly bottlenecking populations.