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The spread of apomixis and its effect on resident genetic variation

Author

Summary, in English

In a simulation model we investigated how much of the initial genetic variation that is retained in a population after a dominant mutation has brought apomixis to fixation in it. A marker allele associated with the apomixis mutation is generally retained after the fixation of apomixis, particularly if the two alleles are closely linked. The spread of asexuality, however, normally leads to almost no loss of genetic variation, neither with respect to cytotypes nor with respect to genotypes. This holds for large populations and apomixis mutants with strong pollen production. In smaller populations, and with apomicts with reduced pollen production, the outcome is more variable, ranging from no genetic variation retained to only weakly reduced variability compared with the initial state. These results help explain the high genetic variability in many apomicts. They also imply that natural selection will have many genotypes to act on even after the spread of apomixis.

Department/s

  • MEMEG
  • Evolutionary Genetics

Publishing year

2007

Language

English

Pages

1933-1940

Publication/Series

Journal of evolutionary biology

Volume

20

Issue

5

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Keywords

  • apomixis
  • genetic variation
  • cytotypes
  • asexual reproduction
  • GMO

Status

Published

Research group

  • Evolutionary Genetics

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1420-9101