Both costs and benefits of sex correlate with relative frequency of asexual reproduction in cyclically parthenogenic Daphnia pulicaria populations

Desiree E. Allen, Michael Lynch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sexual reproduction is generally believed to yield beneficial effects via the expansion of expressed genetic variation, which increases the efficiency of selection and the adaptive potential of a population. However, when nonadditive gene action is involved, sex can actually impede the adaptive progress of a population. If selection promotes coupling disequilibria between genes of similar effect, recombination and segregation can result in a decrease in expressed genetic variance in the offspring population. In addition, when nonadditive gene action underlies a quantitative trait, sex can produce a change in trait means in a direction opposite to that favored by selection. In this study we measured the change in genotypic trait means and genetic variances across a sexual generation in four populations of the cyclical parthenogen Daphnia pulicaria, which vary predictably in their incidence of sexual reproduction. We show that both the costs and benefits of sex, as measured by changes in means and variances in life-history traits, increase substantially with decreasing frequency of sex.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1497-1502
Number of pages6
JournalGenetics
Volume179
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2008
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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