Temporal dynamics and linkage disequilibrium in natural Caenorhabditis elegans populations

Caenorhabditis elegans is a major laboratory model system yet a newcomer to the field of population genetics, and relatively little is known of its biology in the wild. Recent studies of natural populations at a single time point revealed strong spatial population structure and suggested that these...

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Published inGenetics (Austin) Vol. 176; no. 2; pp. 999 - 1011
Main Authors Barrière, Antoine, Félix, Marie-Anne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Genetics Society of America 01.06.2007
Subjects
Animals
Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics
Crosses, Genetic
Disorders of Sex Development - genetics
DNA Primers
E coli
Endangered & extinct species
Evolutionary biology
France
Gardens & gardening
Genetic diversity
Genetic Variation
Genetics, Population
Genotype
Investigations
Linkage Disequilibrium
Males
Microsatellite Repeats - genetics
Models, Genetic
Mutation
Nematodes
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Population Dynamics
Portugal
Studies
France
Portugal
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Summary:Caenorhabditis elegans is a major laboratory model system yet a newcomer to the field of population genetics, and relatively little is known of its biology in the wild. Recent studies of natural populations at a single time point revealed strong spatial population structure and suggested that these populations may be very dynamic. We have therefore studied several natural C. elegans populations over time and genotyped them at polymorphic microsatellite loci. While some populations appear to be genetically stable over the course of observation, others seem to go extinct, with full replacement of multilocus genotypes upon regrowth. The frequency of heterozygotes indicates that outcrossing occurs at a mean frequency of 1.7% and is variable between populations. However, in genetically stable populations, linkage disequilibrium between different chromosomes can be maintained over several years at a level much higher than expected from the heterozygote frequency. C. elegans seems to follow metapopulation dynamics, and the maintenance of linkage disequilibrium despite a low yet significant level of outcrossing suggests that selection may act against the progeny of outcrossings.
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content type line 23
Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637.
A.B. dedicates this work to the memory of Daniel Lachaise, who had a decisive influence on his career.
Communicating editor: P. Phillips
ISSN:0016-6731
1943-2631
1943-2631
DOI:10.1534/genetics.106.067223