It was previously argued that infection by parasitic sex-ratio distorters can enhance both random genetic drift and genetic influx from outside the population. However, these two enhancement effects have been studied independently. Here, we study the equilibrium frequencies of alleles (neutral and selected) in a mainland-island scenario where both genetic drift and genetic influx are enhanced due to infection by a cytoplasmic feminizing element. Interestingly, our model reveals that at neutral loci, the two effects almost exactly cancel each other out, such that infection has only a very minor effect on the equilibrium frequency distributions of alleles. At selected loci, in contrast, the two effects are unbalanced and infection has conspicuous effects. Despite the cryptic effects of infection at neutral loci, we demonstrate that temporally spaced data can be used to evaluate the effect of infection on genetic drift and that on gene flow separately.
@article{kobayashi_effect_2011,
Author = {Kobayashi, Y. and Achaz, G. and Telschow, A.},
Title = {Effect of parasitic sex-ratio distorters on host gene
frequencies in a mainland-island context},
Journal = {Journal of Evolutionary Biology},
Volume = {24},
Number = {8},
Pages = {1695--1705},
abstract = {It was previously argued that infection by parasitic
sex-ratio distorters can enhance both random genetic
drift and genetic influx from outside the population.
However, these two enhancement effects have been
studied independently. Here, we study the equilibrium
frequencies of alleles (neutral and selected) in a
mainland-island scenario where both genetic drift and
genetic influx are enhanced due to infection by a
cytoplasmic feminizing element. Interestingly, our
model reveals that at neutral loci, the two effects
almost exactly cancel each other out, such that
infection has only a very minor effect on the
equilibrium frequency distributions of alleles. At
selected loci, in contrast, the two effects are
unbalanced and infection has conspicuous effects.
Despite the cryptic effects of infection at neutral
loci, we demonstrate that temporally spaced data can be
used to evaluate the effect of infection on genetic
drift and that on gene flow separately.},
doi = {10.1111/j.1420-9101.2011.02296.x},
issn = {1420-9101},
language = {eng},
month = aug,
pmid = {21605214},
year = 2011
}