title: Reversing mother's curse revisited.
abstract: Because of maternal mtDNA inheritance, mtDNA mutations detrimental only in males are not expected to be selected against, an effect termed the "mother's curse." However, if there is positive-assortative mating, equivalent to what was called "inbreeding" by Wade and Brandvain (2009), then selection can act to reduce the frequency of these male-specific detrimental mtDNA mutants. On the other hand, as shown here negative-assortative mating, or "outbreeding, " paradoxically can result in an increase in the frequency of male-specific detrimental mtDNA mutants. The implications of these findings are briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA. philip.hedrick@asu.edu
authors.forename: Philip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Hedrick
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006801:Humans; D007178:Inbreeding; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D012641:Selection, Genetic
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial