title: Mutation accumulation in a selfing population: consequences of different mutation rates between selfers and outcrossers.
abstract: Currently existing theories predict that because deleterious mutations accumulate at a higher rate, selfing populations suffer from more intense genetic degradation relative to outcrossing populations. This prediction may not always be true when we consider a potential difference in deleterious mutation rate between selfers and outcrossers. By analyzing the evolutionary stability of selfing and outcrossing in an infinite population, we found that the genome-wide deleterious mutation rate would be lower in selfing than in outcrossing organisms. When this difference in mutation rate was included in simulations, we found that in a small population, mutations accumulated more slowly under selfing rather than outcrossing. This result suggests that under frequent and intense bottlenecks, a selfing population may have a lower risk of genetic extinction than an outcrossing population.
authors.affiliation: Nikko Botanical Gardens, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. shin.ichiro.nak@gmail.com
authors.forename: Shin-ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Shoi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tateno
authors.forename: Masakazu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: K Ryo
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Takahasi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005828:Genetics, Population; D007178:Inbreeding; D008957:Models, Genetic; D059645:Mutation Rate; D012641:Selection, Genetic