IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/thpobi/v123y2018icp1-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Generation of variation and a modified mean fitness principle: Necessity is the mother of genetic invention

Author

Listed:
  • Ram, Yoav
  • Altenberg, Lee
  • Liberman, Uri
  • Feldman, Marcus W.

Abstract

Generation of variation may be detrimental in well-adapted populations evolving under constant selection. In a constant environment, genetic modifiers that reduce the rate at which variation is generated by processes such as mutation and migration, succeed. However, departures from this reduction principle have been demonstrated. Here we analyze a general model of evolution under constant selection where the rate at which variation is generated depends on the individual. We find that if a modifier allele increases the rate at which individuals of below-average fitness generate variation, then it will increase in frequency and increase the population mean fitness. This principle applies to phenomena such as stress-induced mutagenesis and condition-dependent dispersal, and exemplifies “Necessity is the mother of genetic invention.â€

Suggested Citation

  • Ram, Yoav & Altenberg, Lee & Liberman, Uri & Feldman, Marcus W., 2018. "Generation of variation and a modified mean fitness principle: Necessity is the mother of genetic invention," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 1-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:1-8
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2018.02.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040580918300200
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tpb.2018.02.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Liberman, Uri & Ram, Yoav & Altenberg, Lee & Feldman, Marcus W., 2020. "The evolution of frequency-dependent cultural transmission," Theoretical Population Biology, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 69-81.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:123:y:2018:i:c:p:1-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/intelligence .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.