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Detecting purging of inbreeding depression by a slow rate of inbreeding for various traits : the impact of environmental and experimental conditions

Bundgaard, Jørgen ; Loeschcke, Volker ; Schou, Mads Fristrup LU and Bijlsma, Kuke (R ). (2021) In Heredity 127(1). p.10-20
Abstract

Inbreeding depression (ID) has since long been recognized as a significant factor in evolutionary biology. It is mainly the consequence of (partially) recessive deleterious mutations maintained by mutation-selection balance in large random mating populations. When population size is reduced, recessive alleles are increasingly found in homozygous condition due to drift and inbreeding and become more prone to selection. Particularly at slow rates of drift and inbreeding, selection will be more effective in purging such alleles, thereby reducing the amount of ID. Here we test assumptions of the efficiency of purging in relation to the inbreeding rate and the experimental conditions for four traits in D. melanogaster. We investigated the... (More)

Inbreeding depression (ID) has since long been recognized as a significant factor in evolutionary biology. It is mainly the consequence of (partially) recessive deleterious mutations maintained by mutation-selection balance in large random mating populations. When population size is reduced, recessive alleles are increasingly found in homozygous condition due to drift and inbreeding and become more prone to selection. Particularly at slow rates of drift and inbreeding, selection will be more effective in purging such alleles, thereby reducing the amount of ID. Here we test assumptions of the efficiency of purging in relation to the inbreeding rate and the experimental conditions for four traits in D. melanogaster. We investigated the magnitude of ID for lines that were inbred to a similar level, F ≈ 0.50, reached either by three generations of full-sib mating (fast inbreeding), or by 12 consecutive generations with a small population size (slow inbreeding). This was done on two different food media. We observed significant ID for egg-to-adult viability and heat shock mortality, but only for egg-to-adult viability a significant part of the expressed inbreeding depression was effectively purged under slow inbreeding. For other traits like developmental time and starvation resistance, however, adaptation to the experimental and environmental conditions during inbreeding might affect the likelihood of purging to occur or being detected. We discuss factors that can affect the efficiency of purging and why empirical evidence for purging may be ambiguous.

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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Heredity
volume
127
issue
1
pages
10 - 20
publisher
Macmillan
external identifiers
  • scopus:85105211868
  • pmid:33903740
ISSN
0018-067X
DOI
10.1038/s41437-021-00436-7
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
16a00236-e882-42ae-a987-a4dec32eec43
date added to LUP
2021-05-28 16:55:29
date last changed
2024-08-10 16:31:43
@article{16a00236-e882-42ae-a987-a4dec32eec43,
  abstract     = {{<p>Inbreeding depression (ID) has since long been recognized as a significant factor in evolutionary biology. It is mainly the consequence of (partially) recessive deleterious mutations maintained by mutation-selection balance in large random mating populations. When population size is reduced, recessive alleles are increasingly found in homozygous condition due to drift and inbreeding and become more prone to selection. Particularly at slow rates of drift and inbreeding, selection will be more effective in purging such alleles, thereby reducing the amount of ID. Here we test assumptions of the efficiency of purging in relation to the inbreeding rate and the experimental conditions for four traits in D. melanogaster. We investigated the magnitude of ID for lines that were inbred to a similar level, F ≈ 0.50, reached either by three generations of full-sib mating (fast inbreeding), or by 12 consecutive generations with a small population size (slow inbreeding). This was done on two different food media. We observed significant ID for egg-to-adult viability and heat shock mortality, but only for egg-to-adult viability a significant part of the expressed inbreeding depression was effectively purged under slow inbreeding. For other traits like developmental time and starvation resistance, however, adaptation to the experimental and environmental conditions during inbreeding might affect the likelihood of purging to occur or being detected. We discuss factors that can affect the efficiency of purging and why empirical evidence for purging may be ambiguous.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bundgaard, Jørgen and Loeschcke, Volker and Schou, Mads Fristrup and Bijlsma, Kuke (R ).}},
  issn         = {{0018-067X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{10--20}},
  publisher    = {{Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Heredity}},
  title        = {{Detecting purging of inbreeding depression by a slow rate of inbreeding for various traits : the impact of environmental and experimental conditions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41437-021-00436-7}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41437-021-00436-7}},
  volume       = {{127}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}