Large global effective population sizes in Paramecium

The genetic effective population size (N_e) of a species is an important parameter for understanding evolutionary dynamics because it mediates the relative effects of selection. However, because most N_e estimates for unicellular organisms are derived either from taxa with poorly understood species boundaries or from host-restricted pathogens and most unicellular species have prominent phases of clonal propagation potentially subject to strong selective sweeps, the hypothesis that N_e is elevated in single-celled organisms remains controversial. Drawing from observations on well-defined species within the genus Paramecium, we report exceptionally high levels of silent-site polymorphism, which appear to be a reflection of large N_e.