Evolutionarily Stable Meiotic Sex

Since, by definition, heritably fit traits spread more successfully than others, they will tend to occur at equilibrium at high alletomorphic frequencies, whereas unfit traits tend toward low frequencies. Sexual creatures would therefore be expected to prefer mates with predominantly common features...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of heredity 1993-09, Vol.84 (5), p.396-399
Main Authors: Koeslag, J. H., Koeslag, P. D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Biological evolution
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution
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Summary:Since, by definition, heritably fit traits spread more successfully than others, they will tend to occur at equilibrium at high alletomorphic frequencies, whereas unfit traits tend toward low frequencies. Sexual creatures would therefore be expected to prefer mates with predominantly common features. This is termed koinophilia. It equips sexual creatures with a genomic error-rejecting device denied to asexuals. When simulated panmictic bi-gender sexually reproducing populations of 1, 000 were subjected to a mutation rate (with mutations of randomly varying fitnesses; 3% beneficial) of 0.07 per gene per generation, they were always rapidly replaced by asexuals, whose initial concentration was 5%. Koinophilic bi-gender sexuals, on the other hand, resisted invasion by “asex,” particularly if the average mutation encountered in potential mates was only mildly disadvantageous. A koinophilic population of 500 resisted replacement by asexuals that arose once in every generation, for over 10, 000 generations.
ISSN:0022-1503
1465-7333
DOI:10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhered.a111360