Fixation Probabilities When Generation Times Are Variable: The Burst–Death Model

Abstract

Abstract Estimating the fixation probability of a beneficial mutation has a rich history in theoretical population genetics. Typically, to attain mathematical tractability, we assume that generation times are fixed, while the number of offspring per individual is stochastic. However, fixation probabilities are extremely sensitive to these assumptions regarding life history. In this article, we compute the fixation probability for a “burst–death” life-history model. The model assumes that generation times are exponentially distributed, but the number of offspring per individual is constant. We estimate the fixation probability for populations of constant size and for populations that grow exponentially between periodic population bottlenecks. We find that the fixation probability is, in general, substantially lower in the burst–death model than in classical models. We also note striking qualitative differences between the fates of beneficial mutations that increase burst size and mutations that increase the burst rate. In particular, once the burst size is sufficiently large relative to the wild type, the burst–death model predicts that fixation probability depends only on burst rate.