title: Why are diploid genomes widespread and dominant mutations rare?
abstract: We have used the sexual Penna ageing model to show that the relation between dominance and recessiveness could be a force which optimizes the genome size. While the possibility of complementation of the damaged allele by its functional counterparts (recessiveness) leads to the redundancy of genetic information, the dominant effect of defective genes tends to diminish the number of alleles fulfilling the same function. Playing with the fraction of dominant loci in the genome it is possible to obtain the condition where the diploid state of the genome is optimal. If the status of each bit position as dominant or recessive mutations is changed for each individual randomly and rarely, then after a long time a stationary equilibrium of many recessive and few dominant loci is established in the sexual Penna model. This effect vanishes if the same changing distribution of dominant loci applies to all individuals.
authors: Department of Genomics, Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Wrocław, ul. Przybyszewskiego 63/77, 54148, Wrocław, Poland.
authors: Diana
authors: D
authors: Garncarz
authors: Stanislaw
authors: S
authors: Cebrat
authors: Dietrich
authors: D
authors: Stauffer
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Blindert
mesh_terms: D004171:Diploidy; D005799:Genes, Dominant; D016678:Genome; D006239:Haplotypes; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation