Effect of Population Size and Mutation Rate on the Evolution of RNA Sequences on an Adaptive Landscape Determined by RNA Folding.

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Version: Final published version
Serval ID
serval:BIB_0D12459BCA20
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Effect of Population Size and Mutation Rate on the Evolution of RNA Sequences on an Adaptive Landscape Determined by RNA Folding.
Journal
International Journal of Biological Sciences
Author(s)
Vahdati A.R., Sprouffske K., Wagner A.
ISSN
1449-2288 (Electronic)
ISSN-L
1449-2288
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
13
Number
9
Pages
1138-1151
Language
english
Abstract
The dynamics of populations evolving on an adaptive landscape depends on multiple factors, including the structure of the landscape, the rate of mutations, and effective population size. Existing theoretical work often makes ad hoc and simplifying assumptions about landscape structure, whereas experimental work can vary important parameters only to a limited extent. We here overcome some of these limitations by simulating the adaptive evolution of RNA molecules, whose fitness is determined by the thermodynamics of RNA secondary structure folding. We study the influence of mutation rates and population sizes on final mean population fitness, on the substitution rates of mutations, and on population diversity. We show that evolutionary dynamics cannot be understood as a function of mutation rate µ, population size N, or population mutation rate Nµ alone. For example, at a given mutation rate, clonal interference prevents the fixation of beneficial mutations as population size increases, but larger populations still arrive at a higher mean fitness. In addition, at the highest population mutation rates we study, mean final fitness increases with population size, because small populations are driven to low fitness by the relatively higher incidence of mutations they experience. Our observations show that mutation rate and population size can interact in complex ways to influence the adaptive dynamics of a population on a biophysically motivated fitness landscape.

Keywords
RNA secondary structure., fitness landscape, population size, rate of adaptation
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
15/11/2017 11:54
Last modification date
20/08/2019 13:34
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