Author:
BATAILLON THOMAS,KIRKPATRICK MARK
Abstract
We studied the effects of population size on the inbreeding depression and genetic load caused by
deleterious mutations at a single locus. Analysis shows how the inbreeding depression decreases as
population size becomes smaller and/or the rate of inbreeding increases. This pattern contrasts
with that for the load, which increases as population size becomes smaller but decreases as
inbreeding rate goes up. The depression and load both approach asymptotic limits when the
population size becomes very large or very small. Numerical results show that the transition
between the small and the large population regimes is quite rapid, and occurs largely over a range
of population sizes that vary by a factor of 10. The effects of drift on inbreeding depression may
bias some estimates of the genomic rate of deleterious mutation. These effects could also be
important in the evolution of breeding systems in hermaphroditic organisms and in the
conservation of endangered populations.
Subject
Genetics,General Medicine
Cited by
152 articles.
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