Muller's ratchet and the degeneration of Y chromosomes: a simulation study.
A typical pattern in sex chromosome evolution is that Y chromosomes are small and have lost many of their genes. One mechanism that might explain the degeneration of Y chromosomes is Muller's ratchet, the perpetual stochastic loss of linkage groups carrying the fewest number of deleterious mutations. This process has been investigated theoretically mainly for asexual, haploid populations. Here, I construct a model of a sexual population where deleterious mutations arise on both X and Y chromosomes. Simulation results of this model demonstrate that mutations on the X chromosome can considerably slow down the ratchet. On the other hand, a lower mutation rate in females than in males, background selection, and the emergence of dosage compensation are expected to accelerate the process.
Engelstädter
Jan
J
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. jan.engelstaedter@env.ethz.ch
D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D005260:Female; D006238:Haploidy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009154:Mutation; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D012100:Reproduction, Asexual / Q000235:genetics; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D014960:X Chromosome; D014998:Y Chromosome / Q000235:genetics*
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