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Complexity Digest 2009.24 - 14
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2009/11/20

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Mutation load and rapid adaptation favour outcrossing over self-fertilization,
Nature
 









Excerpts: The tendency of organisms to reproduce by cross-fertilization despite
numerous disadvantages relative to self-fertilization is one of the oldest
puzzles in evolutionary biology. (...) Two competing explanations for the
widespread prevalence of outcrossing in nature despite this inherent
disadvantage are the avoidance of inbreeding depression generated by selfing and
the ability of outcrossing populations to adapt more rapidly to environmental
change. Here we show that outcrossing is favoured in populations of C. elegans
subject to experimental evolution both under conditions of increased mutation
rate and during adaptation to a novel environment. (...) Thus, each of the
standard explanations for the maintenance of outcrossing are correct (...)
Source: Mutation load and rapid adaptation favour outcrossing over
self-fertilization[ http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature08496 ], Levi T. Morran,
Michelle D. Parmenter, Patrick C. Phillips, DOI: 10.1038/nature08496, Nature
462, 350-352, 2009/11/19

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