Article
Biology
Thomas Lesaffre
Summary: Research shows that inbreeding depression in plants intensifies with increasing life expectancy due to the accumulation of deleterious mutations during growth in long-lived species. However, the impact of mutation rate evolution on inbreeding depression also depends on the extent of mutagenic meiosis relative to growth.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paula E. Adams, Anna B. Crist, Ellen M. Young, John H. Willis, Patrick C. Phillips, Janna L. Fierst
Summary: The outcrossing species C. remanei can recover from inbreeding, but the recovery is limited by the presence of a large number of segregating deleterious variants in natural populations.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Pim van Hooft, Wayne M. Getz, Barend J. Greyling, Bas Zwaan, Armanda D. S. Bastos
Summary: This study reveals continent-wide and genome-wide selection of male-deleterious alleles in African buffalo, leading to frequency clines and reduced heterozygosity. The selection pressures involved may be related to a sex-chromosomal meiotic drive system, and most buffalo populations are able to withstand a high genetic load.
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bengt Hansson, Hernan E. Morales, Cock van Oosterhout
Summary: Scott et al. bring attention to species conservation by demonstrating heterozygote superiority among translocated tortoises, but their recommended decision rule may risk setbacks in conservation genomics. Further assessment and improvement are needed to guide conservation management effectively.
Article
Biology
Satoki Sakai
Summary: This study examines the effects of differential timing of the expression of deleterious mutations on the maintenance of mutations using a two-locus two-allele model. The results suggest that mutations occurring in both loci coupled with overproduction of ovules enhance the maintenance of mutations in populations with high selfing rates.Selective interference was not found to explain the results, indicating a complex interplay of factors in mutation maintenance.
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Jacqueline Robinson, Christopher C. Kyriazis, Stella C. Yuan, Kirk E. Lohmueller
Summary: Deleterious mutations decrease reproductive fitness and are widespread in genomes. Understanding the impact of such mutations on extinction risk is important for conservation management strategies. This article discusses quantifying deleterious variation, the effect of population history on such variation, and provides guidance on studying deleterious variation in nonmodel populations of conservation concern.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ANIMAL BIOSCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Aryn P. Wilder, Megan A. Supple, Ayshwarya Subramanian, Anish Mudide, Ross Swofford, Aitor Serres-Armero, Cynthia Steiner, Klaus -Peter Koepfli, Diane P. Genereux, Elinor K. Karlsson, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Violeta Munoz Fuentes, Kathleen Foley, Wynn K. Meyer, Oliver A. Ryder, Beth Shapiro
Summary: Species persistence can be affected by the diversity across the genome, with historical effective population size (Ne) playing a crucial role. This study analyzed genetic variation in 240 mammal genomes to investigate the impact of historical Ne on heterozygosity, deleterious genetic load, and extinction risk. The findings indicate that species with smaller historical Ne carry a greater burden of deleterious alleles and have a higher risk of extinction. Genomic data can be used as a predictive tool for conservation status assessment when other census or ecological data are lacking.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Motohide Nishio, Keiichi Inoue, Shinichiro Ogawa, Kasumi Ichinoseki, Aisaku Arakawa, Yo Fukuzawa, Toshihiro Okamura, Eiji Kobayashi, Masaaki Taniguchi, Mika Oe, Kazuo Ishii
Summary: The use of genomic data allows for more accurate assessment of inbreeding level and depression. Genome-based inbreeding coefficients show stronger correlations with pedigree-based inbreeding coefficients, particularly those based on runs of homozygosity (ROH) segments and heterozygosity by descent segments (HBD). Genome-based inbreeding coefficients have more significant effects on reproductive traits compared to pedigree-based inbreeding coefficients.
Editorial Material
Cell Biology
Ina Kirmes, Steven Zuryn
Summary: The integrity of mitochondrial DNA is crucial for energy synthesis. A recent study reveals a vicious cycle of mtDNA replication within dysfunctional mitochondria that propagates genomes with deleterious mutations.
NATURE CELL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Dillon J. Travis, Joshua R. Kohn
Summary: Most flowering plants rely on animal pollination, but the effects of different pollinators on plant fitness have not been fully understood. This study shows that non-native honeybees tend to visit more flowers on individual plants compared to native insect visitors, resulting in increased self-pollination. Offspring produced after honeybee pollination have similar fitness to those resulting from hand self-pollination but are less fit than those produced after pollination by native insects or cross-pollination. This study is the first to directly compare the fitness of offspring resulting from honeybee pollination with that of other floral visitors.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
Victoria L. Pike, Charlie K. Cornwallis, Ashleigh S. Griffin
Summary: The strength of inbreeding avoidance varies across species, with some species not avoiding related mates. Mechanisms for avoiding inbreeding are only found in species with inbreeding depression.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Noelia Perez-Pereira, Jinliang Wang, Humberto Quesada, Armando Caballero
Summary: This article investigates the influence of purging on the establishment of a minimum viable population (MVP) for long-term survival. Computer simulations were used to study extinction times and loss of genetic diversity for different effective population sizes. The results indicate that purging can reduce the MVP needed for a population to persist in the long term, especially for species with higher reproductive rates.
BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Editorial Material
Biology
Mario B. Pesendorfer, Davide Ascoli, Michal Bogdziewicz, Andrew Hacket-Pain, Ian S. Pearse, Giorgio Vacchiano
Summary: Populations of long-lived plants exhibit spatially synchronized seed production that varies extensively over time, which is known as "masting" and has significant implications for plant reproductive success, ecosystem dynamics, and plant-human interactions. While mechanistic drivers and fitness consequences of masting have been well studied, the evolutionary history, ontogenetic trajectory, and applications to plant-human interactions are still poorly understood. With increased availability of long-term datasets and advances in molecular approaches, many mysteries of masting are expected to be unraveled soon.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lei Zhang, Xiao Dong, Xiao Tian, Moonsook Lee, Julia Ablaeva, Denis Firsanov, Sang-Goo Lee, Alexander Y. Maslov, Vadim N. Gladyshev, Andrei Seluanov, Vera Gorbunova, Jan Vijg
Summary: Long-lived species demonstrate a higher capacity for accurate DNA damage repair, which may help slow down the aging process. The mutagen-induced mutation frequencies are inversely correlated with the maximum life span of different species, with the most significant difference observed between mice and other species.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Yong-Bi Fu, Gregory W. Peterson, Carolee Horbach
Summary: Conserving millions of plant germplasm accessions in genebanks worldwide is crucial for securing future food supply. However, long-term conservation also comes with genetic costs. By studying several crop collections, we found that there were deleterious and adaptive mutations present, and that the number of deleterious mutations increased while the number of adaptive mutations decreased with longer storage time. This has implications for understanding mutational dynamics and genetic costs in conserved germplasm and for long-term germplasm management.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)