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Science 17 February 2006:
Vol. 311. no. 5763, pp. 990 - 992
DOI: 10.1126/science.1118152
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Reports

Transitions to Asexuality Result in Excess Amino Acid Substitutions

Susanne Paland and Michael Lynch

Theory predicts that linkage between genetic loci reduces the efficiency of purifying selection. Because of the permanent linkage of all heritable genetic material, asexual lineages may be exceptionally prone to deleterious-mutation accumulation in both nuclear and organelle genes. Here, we show that the ratio of the rate of amino acid to silent substitution (Ka/Ks) in mitochondrial protein-coding genes is higher in obligately asexual lineages than in sexual lineages of the microcrustacean Daphnia pulex. Using a phylogeny-based approach to quantify the frequency of mutational-effect classes, we estimate that mitochondrial protein-coding genes in asexual lineages accumulate deleterious amino acid substitutions at four times the rate in sexual lineages. These results support the hypothesis that sexual reproduction plays a prominent role in reducing the mutational burden in populations.

Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East 3rd Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA.

E-mail: spaland{at}indiana.edu (S.P.); milynch{at}indiana.edu (M.L.)

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Mating Systems and the Efficacy of Selection at the Molecular Level.
S. Glemin (2007)
Genetics 177, 905-916
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The Origins of Genome Architecture.
H. Abdel-Haleem (2007)
J. Hered. 98, 633-634
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Evidence for Inefficient Selection Against Deleterious Mutations in Cytochrome Oxidase I of Asexual Bdelloid Rotifers.
T. G. Barraclough, D. Fontaneto, C. Ricci, and E. A. Herniou (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 1952-1962
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Accumulation of slightly deleterious mutations in mitochondrial protein-coding genes of large versus small mammals.
K. Popadin, L. V. Polishchuk, L. Mamirova, D. Knorre, and K. Gunbin (2007)
PNAS 104, 13390-13395
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Genetic Load in Sexual and Asexual Diploids: Segregation, Dominance and Genetic Drift.
C. R. Haag and D. Roze (2007)
Genetics 176, 1663-1678
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Quantifying fitness distributions and phenotypic relationships in recombinant yeast populations.
E. O. Perlstein, E. J. Deeds, O. Ashenberg, E. I. Shakhnovich, and S. L. Schreiber (2007)
PNAS 104, 10553-10558
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Sex chromosomes in flowering plants.
R. Ming, J. Wang, P. H. Moore, and A. H. Paterson (2007)
Am. J. Botany 94, 141-150
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Comment on "Transitions to Asexuality Result in Excess Amino Acid Substitutions".
R. Butlin (2006)
Science 313, 1389b
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Response to Comment on "Transitions to Asexuality Result in Excess Amino Acid Substitutions".
S. Paland and M. Lynch (2006)
Science 313, 1389c
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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