Effective population size and patterns of molecular evolution and variation

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Charlesworth
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Effective Population

scholarly journals Does effective population size affect rates of molecular evolution: mitochondrial data for host/parasite species pairs in bees suggests not

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nahid Shokri Bousjein ◽  
Simon Tierney ◽  
Michael Gardner ◽  
Michael Schwarz
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Parasite Species ◽  
Mitochondrial Protein ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Mitochondrial Genes ◽  
Social Parasite ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Rates Of Molecular Evolution

Adaptive evolutionary theory argues that organisms with larger effective population size (Ne) should have higher rates of adaptive evolution and therefore greater capacity to win evolutionary arm races. However, in some certain cases species with much smaller Ne may be able to survive beside their opponents for an extensive evolutionary time. Neutral theory predicts that accelerated rates of molecular evolution in organisms with exceedingly small Ne is due to the effects of genetic drift and fixation of slightly deleterious mutations. We test this prediction in two obligate social parasite species and their respective host species from the bee tribe Allodapini. The parasites (genus Inquilina) have been locked into a tight coevolutionary arm races with their exclusive hosts (genus Exoneura) for ~15 million years, even though Inquilina exhibit Ne that are an order of magnitude smaller than their host. In this study, we compared rates of molecular evolution between host and parasite using nonsynonymous to synonymous substitution rate ratios (dN/dS) of eleven mitochondrial protein coding genes sequenced from transcriptomes. Tests of selection on mitochondrial genes indicated no significant differences between host and parasite dN/dS, with evidence for purifying selection acting on all mitochondrial genes of host and parasite species. Several potential factors which could weaken the inverse relationship between Ne and rate of molecular evolution are discussed.

scholarly journals Effective population size and the rate and pattern of nucleotide substitutions

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Woolfit
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Nucleotide Substitution ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Nucleotide Substitutions ◽  
Substitution Rates ◽  
Synonymous Substitutions ◽  
Empirical Analyses

Both the overall rate of nucleotide substitution and the relative proportions of synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions are predicted to vary between species that differ in effective population size ( N e ). Our understanding of the genetic processes underlying these lineage-specific differences in molecular evolution is still developing. Empirical analyses indicate that variation in substitution rates and patterns caused by differences in N e is often substantial, however, and must be accounted for in analyses of molecular evolution.

scholarly journals Selective constraints in cold‐region wild boars may defuse the effects of small effective population size on molecular evolution of mitogenomes

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (16) ◽  
pp. 8102-8114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianhai Chen ◽  
Pan Ni ◽  
Thuy Nhien Tran Thi ◽  
Evgeniy Varisovich Kamaldinov ◽  
Valeriy Lavrentyevich Petukhov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Evolution ◽  
Population Size ◽  
Effective Population Size ◽  
Cold Region ◽  
Effective Population ◽  
Wild Boars ◽  
Selective Constraints ◽  
Small Effective Population Size
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