Asexual reproduction reduces transposable element load in experimental yeast populations
Abstract
Theory predicts that sexual reproduction can either facilitate or restrain transposable element (TE) accumulation by providing TEs with a means of spreading to all individuals in a population, versus facilitating TE load reduction via purifying selection. By quantifying genomic TE loads over time in experimental sexual and asexual Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations, we provide direct evidence that TE loads decrease rapidly under asexual reproduction.. We show, using simulations, that this reduction may occus via evolution of TE activity, most likely via increased excision rates. Thus, sex is a major driver of genomic TE loads and at the root of the success of TEs.
Data availability
Raw read data of the experiment is available at SRA (BioProject identifier PRJNA308843). All data processing and analyses scripts as well as the simulator together with explanations are available at https://github.com/KamilSJaron/reproductive_mode_TE_dynamics.
-
Sex speeds adaptation by altering the dynamics of molecular evolutionNCBI BioProject, PRJNA308843.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BA 5800/1-1)
- Jens Bast
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (PP00P3_17062)
- Tanja Schwander
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (PP00P3_139013)
- Tanja Schwander
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (BA 5800/2-1)
- Jens Bast
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2019, Bast et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 2,856
- views
-
- 321
- downloads
-
- 43
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Further reading
-
- Evolutionary Biology
The rise of angiosperms to ecological dominance and the breakup of Gondwana during the Mesozoic marked major transitions in the evolutionary history of insect-plant interactions. To elucidate how contemporary trophic interactions were influenced by host plant shifts and palaeogeographical events, we integrated molecular data with information from the fossil record to construct a time tree for ancient phytophagous weevils of the beetle family Belidae. Our analyses indicate that crown-group Belidae originated approximately 138 Ma ago in Gondwana, associated with Pinopsida (conifer) host plants, with larvae likely developing in dead/decaying branches. Belids tracked their host plants as major plate movements occurred during Gondwana’s breakup, surviving on distant, disjunct landmasses. Some belids shifted to Angiospermae and Cycadopsida when and where conifers declined, evolving new trophic interactions, including brood-pollination mutualisms with cycads and associations with achlorophyllous parasitic angiosperms. Extant radiations of belids in the genera Rhinotia (Australian region) and Proterhinus (Hawaiian Islands) have relatively recent origins.
-
- Evolutionary Biology
Studying the fecal microbiota of wild baboons helps provide new insight into the factors that influence biological aging.