Dynamics of a Sex-Linked Deleterious Mutation in Populations Subject to Sex Reversal

The heterogametic sex chromosomes (i.e. mammalian Y and avian W) do not usually recombine with the homogametic sex chromosomes which is known to lead into rapid degeneration of Y and W due to accumulation of deleterious mutations. On the other hand, some 96% of amphibian species have homomorphic, i....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPloS one Vol. 6; no. 10; p. e25362
Main Author Karhunen, Markku
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 10.10.2011
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Altruism
Analysis
Animals
Aplocheilus
Biology
Chromosomes
Cooperation
Degeneration
Disorders of Sex Development - genetics
Disorders of Sex Development - physiopathology
Fecundity
Female
Females
Fertility - genetics
Fish
Gene Frequency
Genetic aspects
Genetic Drift
Genetic Predisposition to Disease - genetics
Genetic research
Genomes
Hypotheses
Male
Males
Models, Genetic
Mutation
Mutation - genetics
Mutualism
Population
Rana temporaria
Recombination
Reptiles & amphibians
Semantics
Sex
Sex Chromosome Aberrations
Sex chromosomes
Sex linkage
Sex reversal
Youth
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Summary:The heterogametic sex chromosomes (i.e. mammalian Y and avian W) do not usually recombine with the homogametic sex chromosomes which is known to lead into rapid degeneration of Y and W due to accumulation of deleterious mutations. On the other hand, some 96% of amphibian species have homomorphic, i.e. non-degenerate Y chromosomes. Nicolas Perrin's fountain-of-youth hypothesis states that this is a result of recombination between X and Y chromosomes in sex-reversed individuals. In this study, I model the consequences of such recombination for the dynamics of a deleterious mutation occurring in Y chromosomes. As expected, even relatively low levels of sex reversal help to purge deleterious mutations. However, the population-dynamic consequences of this depend on the type of selection that operates on the population undergoing sex reversal. Under fecundity selection, sex reversal can be beneficial for some parameter values, whereas under survival selection, it seems to be always harmful.
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Conceived and designed the experiments: MK. Performed the experiments: MK. Analyzed the data: MK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MK. Wrote the paper: MK.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0025362