Who runs fastest in an adaptive landscape: Sexual versus asexual reproduction
نویسندگان
چکیده
We compare the speed with which a sexual, respectively an asexual, population is able to respond to a biased selective pressure. Our model focuses on the Weismann hypothesis that the extra variation caused by crossing-over and recombination during sexual reproduction allows a sexual population to adapt faster. We find, however, that the extra variation amongst the progeny produced during sexual reproduction for most model parameters is unable to overcome the effect that parents with a high individual fitness in general must mate with individuals of lower individual fitness resulting in a moderate reproductive fitness for the pair.
منابع مشابه
Adaptive molecular evolution of a defence gene in sexual but not functionally asexual evening primroses.
Theory predicts that sexual reproduction provides evolutionary advantages over asexual reproduction by reducing mutational load and increasing adaptive potential. Here, we test the latter prediction in the context of plant defences against pathogens because pathogens frequently reduce plant fitness and drive the evolution of plant defences. Specifically, we ask whether sexual evening primrose p...
متن کاملSexual versus Asexual Reproduction: Distinct Outcomes in Relative Abundance of Parthenogenetic Mealybugs following Recent Colonization
Asexual reproduction, including parthenogenesis in which embryos develop within a female without fertilization, is assumed to confer advantages over sexual reproduction, which includes a "cost of males." Sexual reproduction largely predominates in animals, however, indicating that this cost is outweighed by the genetic and/or ecological benefits of sexuality, including the acquisition of advant...
متن کاملEnvironmental factors influencing asexual reproductive processes in echinoderms
RÉSUMÉ Philip V. MLADENOV Echinoderme Asexué Sexué Reproduction Environnement Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Received 30/03/95, in revised form 08/12/95, accepted 14/12/95. This review provides a brief update of the occurrence and adaptive significance of asexual reproduction in echinoderms. lt then focuses on the state of knowledge of biotic...
متن کاملPlant sex and the evolution of plant defenses against herbivores.
Despite the importance of plant-herbivore interactions to the ecology and evolution of terrestrial ecosystems, the evolutionary factors contributing to variation in plant defenses against herbivores remain unresolved. We used a comparative phylogenetic approach to examine a previously untested hypothesis (Recombination-Mating System Hypothesis) that posits that reduced sexual reproduction limit...
متن کاملThe maintenance of sex in parasites.
The maintenance of sex is an unresolved paradox in evolutionary biology, given the inherent twofold fitness advantage for asexuals. Parasitic helminths offer a unique opportunity to address this enigma. Parasites that can create novel antigenic strains are able to escape pre-existing host immunity. Viruses produce diversity through mutation with rapid clonal proliferation. The long generation t...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
دوره شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2003