Selfish DNA poses a significant challenge to genome stability and organismal fitness in diverse eukaryotic lineages. Although selfish mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has known associations with cytoplasmic male sterility in numerous gynodioecious plant species and is manifested as petite mutants in experimental yeast lab populations, examples of selfish mtDNA in animals...
In We have analyzed natural variation in mitochondrial form and function among a set of Caenorhabditis briggsae isolates known to harbor mitochondrial DNA structural variation in the form of a heteroplasmic nad5 gene deletion (nad5 Delta) that correlates negatively with organismal fitness. We performed in vivo quantification of 24 mitochondrial...
We explored the relationship between relaxed selection, oxidative stress, and spontaneous mutation in a set of mutation-accumulation (MA) lines of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and in their common ancestor. We measured steady-state levels of free radicals and oxidatively damaged guanosine nucleosides in the somatic tissues of five MA lines for...
BACKGROUND: The oxidative stress theory of life-history tradeoffs states that oxidative stress caused by damaging free radicals directly underpins tradeoffs between reproduction and longevity by altering the allocation of energetic resources between these tasks. We test this theory by characterizing the effects of exogenous oxidative insult and its interaction with...
Evolutionary interactions across levels of biological organization contribute to a variety of fundamental processes including genome evolution, reproductive mode transitions, species diversification, and extinction. Evolutionary theory predicts that so-called “selfish” genetic elements will proliferate when the host effective population size (N[subscrit]e) is small, but direct tests of this prediction remain...
BACKGROUND: The oxidative stress theory of life-history tradeoffs states that oxidative stress caused by damaging
free radicals directly underpins tradeoffs between reproduction and longevity by altering the allocation of energetic
resources between these tasks. We test this theory by characterizing the effects of exogenous oxidative insult and
its interaction with...
Full Text:
-history tradeoffs
Samson W Smith1,2, Leigh C Latta IV3, Dee R Denver4 and Suzanne Estes1*
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The oxidative stress theory of life-history tradeoffs states that oxidative stress caused by damaging
free radicals directly underpins tradeoffs between reproduction and longevity by altering the allocation of energetic
resources between these tasks. We test this theory by characterizing the effects of exogenous oxidative insult and
its interaction with...
Evolutionary interactions across levels of biological organization contribute to a variety of fundamental processes including genome evolution, reproductive mode transitions, species diversification, and extinction. Evolutionary theory predicts that so-called “selfish” genetic elements will proliferate when the host effective population size (N[subscrit]e) is small, but direct tests of this prediction remain...
Full Text:
, Anna L. Coleman-Hulbert2, Emily S. Weiss1, Dana K. Howe1, Sita Ping1, Riana I. Wernick1,
Suzanne Estes2
Evolutionary interactions across levels of biological organization contribute to a variety of fundamental processes including genome evolution, reproductive mode transitions, species diversification, and extinction. Evolutionary theory predicts that so-called “selfish” genetic elements will proliferate when the host effective population size (N[subscrit]e) is small, but direct tests of this prediction remain...