Skip Navigation


MBE Advance Access originally published online on April 2, 2003
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
20/5/665    most recent
msg072v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (28)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Cutter, A. D.
Right arrow Articles by Payseur, B. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Cutter, A. D.
Right arrow Articles by Payseur, B. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Mol. Biol. Evol. 20(5):665-673. 2003
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msg072
© 2003 by the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. ISSN: 0737-4038

Selection at Linked Sites in the Partial Selfer Caenorhabditis elegans

Asher D. Cutter and Bret A. Payseur

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona

Natural selection can produce a correlation between local recombination rates and levels of neutral DNA polymorphism as a consequence of genetic hitchhiking and background selection. Theory suggests that selection at linked sites should affect patterns of neutral variation in partially selfing populations more dramatically than in outcrossing populations. However, empirical investigations of selection at linked sites have focused primarily on outcrossing species. To assess the potential role of selection as a determinant of neutral polymorphism in the context of partial self-fertilization, we conducted a multivariate analysis of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) density throughout the genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We based the analysis on a published SNP data set and partitioned the genome into windows to calculate SNP densities, recombination rates, and gene densities across all six chromosomes. Our analyses identify a strong, positive correlation between recombination rate and neutral polymorphism (as estimated by noncoding SNP density) across the genome of C. elegans. Furthermore, we find that levels of neutral polymorphism are lower in gene-dense regions than in gene-poor regions in some analyses. Analyses incorporating local estimates of divergence between C. elegans and C. briggsae indicate that a mutational explanation alone is unlikely to explain the observed patterns. Consequently, we interpret these findings as evidence that natural selection shapes genome-wide patterns of neutral polymorphism in C. elegans. Our study provides the first demonstration of such an effect in a partially selfing animal. Explicit models of genetic hitchhiking and background selection can each adequately describe the relationship between recombination rate and SNP density, but only when they incorporate selfing rate. Clarification of the relative roles of genetic hitchhiking and background selection in C. elegans awaits the development of specific theoretical predictions that account for partial self-fertilization and biased sex ratios.

Key Words: evolutionary genomics • nucleotide polymorphism • SNP • recombination rate • genetic hitchhiking • background selection • Caenorhabditis elegans


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 GeneticsHome page
A. D. Cutter
Multilocus Patterns of Polymorphism and Selection Across the X Chromosome of Caenorhabditis remanei
Genetics, March 1, 2008; 178(3): 1661 - 1672.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
S. I. Wright, J. P. Foxe, L. DeRose-Wilson, A. Kawabe, M. Looseley, B. S. Gaut, and D. Charlesworth
Testing for Effects of Recombination Rate on Nucleotide Diversity in Natural Populations of Arabidopsis lyrata
Genetics, November 1, 2006; 174(3): 1421 - 1430.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
A. D. Cutter, M.-A. Felix, A. Barriere, and D. Charlesworth
Patterns of Nucleotide Polymorphism Distinguish Temperate and Tropical Wild Isolates of Caenorhabditis briggsae
Genetics, August 1, 2006; 173(4): 2021 - 2031.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
A. D. Cutter
Nucleotide Polymorphism and Linkage Disequilibrium in Wild Populations of the Partial Selfer Caenorhabditis elegans
Genetics, January 1, 2006; 172(1): 171 - 184.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
M. Haber, M. Schungel, A. Putz, S. Muller, B. Hasert, and H. Schulenburg
Evolutionary History of Caenorhabditis elegans Inferred from Microsatellites: Evidence for Spatial and Temporal Genetic Differentiation and the Occurrence of Outbreeding
Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2005; 22(1): 160 - 173.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Mol Biol EvolHome page
A. D. Cutter and S. Ward
Sexual and Temporal Dynamics of Molecular Evolution in C. elegans Development
Mol. Biol. Evol., January 1, 2005; 22(1): 178 - 188.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
A. J. Betancourt, Y. Kim, and H. A. Orr
A Pseudohitchhiking Model of X vs. Autosomal Diversity
Genetics, December 1, 2004; 168(4): 2261 - 2269.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
M. E. Hood, J. Antonovics, and B. Koskella
Shared Forces of Sex Chromosome Evolution in Haploid-Mating and Diploid-Mating Organisms: Microbotryum violaceum and Other Model Organisms
Genetics, September 1, 2004; 168(1): 141 - 146.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Genome ResHome page
A. D. Cutter, B. A. Payseur, T. Salcedo, A. M. Estes, J. M. Good, E. Wood, T. Hartl, H. Maughan, J. Strempel, B. Wang, et al.
Molecular Correlates of Genes Exhibiting RNAi Phenotypes in Caenorhabditis elegans
Genome Res., December 1, 2003; 13(12): 2651 - 2657.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
H. Innan and W. Stephan
Distinguishing the Hitchhiking and Background Selection Models
Genetics, December 1, 2003; 165(4): 2307 - 2312.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.