RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Mutation Rates and Dominance Levels of Genes Affecting Total Fitness in Two Angiosperm Species
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 226
OP 229
DO 10.1126/science.267.5195.226
VO 267
IS 5195
A1 Johnston, Mark O.
A1 Schoen, Daniel J.
YR 1995
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/267/5195/226.abstract
AB Theories about the evolution of sex and the effects of inbreeding depend on knowledge of the mutation rate and dominance level of deleterious alleles affecting total fitness. In two species of largely self-fertilizing annual plants, minimal estimates of such mutation rates were found to be 0.24 to 0.87 per sporophyte genome per generation, but confidence intervals exceeded 1.0 in each of the four populations. Dominance levels were near zero in one species and intermediate (0.28 to 0.35) in the other. These results suggest that the detrimental effects of inbreeding are a result of new partially recessive mutations rather than overdominance.