Search results for "Genetic compatibility"

On female choice, heterozygosity and the lek paradox

2008

Genetic compatibility and sexual selection

2005

In a recent review in TREE [1], Mays and Hill discuss the interface between sexual selection for good genes (i.e. female choice based on traits indicating heritable fitness) and sexual selection for genetic compatibility (i.e. how well the genes of the parents function together in their offspring). We feel that the scope of their contribution is somewhat limited, primarily because they implicitly equate genetic compatibility with genetic dissimilarity. Compatibility does, however, not equal dissimilarity.

Silent rain: does the atmosphere-mediated connectivity between microbiomes influence bacterial evolutionary rates?

2020

ABSTRACT Air carries a vast number of bacteria and viruses over great distances all the time. This leads to continuous introduction of foreign genetic material to local, established microbial communities. In this perspective, I ask whether this silent rain may have a slowing effect on the overall evolutionary rates in the microbial biosphere. Arguably, the greater the genetic divergence between gene ‘donors’ and ‘recipients’, the greater the chance that the gene product has a deleterious epistatic interaction with other gene products in its genetic environment. This is due to the long-term absence of check for mutual compatibility. As such, if an organism is extensively different from other…