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SPONTANEOUS MUTATION ACCUMULATION IN MULTIPLE STRAINS OF THE GREEN ALGA, CHLAMYDOMONAS REINHARDTII
Author(s) -
Morgan Andrew D.,
Ness Rob W.,
Keightley Peter D.,
Colegrave Nick
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.12448
Subject(s) - biology , chlamydomonas reinhardtii , multicellular organism , mutation accumulation , eukaryote , chlamydomonas , mutation rate , interspecific competition , mutation , genetics , evolutionary biology , ploidy , genome , genetic variation , natural selection , selection (genetic algorithm) , gene , ecology , mutant , artificial intelligence , computer science
Estimates of mutational parameters, such as the average fitness effect of a new mutation and the rate at which new genetic variation for fitness is created by mutation, are important for the understanding of many biological processes. However, the causes of interspecific variation in mutational parameters and the extent to which they vary within species remain largely unknown. We maintained multiple strains of the unicellular eukaryote Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , for approximately 1000 generations under relaxed selection by transferring a single cell every ∼10 generations. Mean fitness of the lines tended to decline with generations of mutation accumulation whereas mutational variance increased. We did not find any evidence for differences among strains in any of the mutational parameters estimated. The overall change in mean fitness per cell division and rate of input of mutational variance per cell division were more similar to values observed in multicellular organisms than to those in other single‐celled microbes. However, after taking into account differences in genome size among species, estimates from multicellular organisms and microbes, including our new estimates from C. reinhardtii , become substantially more similar. Thus, we suggest that variation in genome size is an important determinant of interspecific variation in mutational parameters.