Androdioecious Caenorhabditis have a high frequency of self-compatible hermaphrodites and a low frequency of males. The effects of mutations on male fitness are of interest for two reasons. First, when males are rare, selection on male-specific mutations is less efficient than in hermaphrodites. Second, males may present a larger mutational target than hermaphrodites because of the different ways in which fitness accrues in the two sexes. We report the first estimates of male-specific mutational effects in an androdioecious organism. The rate of male-specific inviable or sterile mutations is ⩽5 × 10/generation, below the rate at which males would be lost solely due to those kinds of mutations. The rate of mutational decay of male competitive fitness is ~ 0.17%/generation; that of hermaphrodite competitive fitness is ~ 0.11%/generation. The point estimate of ~ 1.5X faster rate of mutational decay of male fitness is nearly identical to the same ratio in Drosophila. Estimates of mutational variance (V) for male mating success and competitive fitness are not significantly different from zero, whereas V for hermaphrodite competitive fitness is similar to that of non-competitive fitness. Two independent estimates of the average selection coefficient against mutations affecting hermaphrodite competitive fitness agree to within two-fold, 0.33-0.5%.
Organismal fitness is relevant in many contexts in biology. The most meaningful experimental measure of fitness is competitive fitness, when two or more entities (e.g., genotypes) are allowed to compete directly. In theory, competitive fitness is simple to measure: an experimental population is initiated with the different types in known proportions and allowed to evolve under experimental conditions to a predefined endpoint. In practice, there are several obstacles to obtaining robust estimates of competitive fitness in multicellular organisms, the most pervasive of which is simply the time it takes to count many individuals of different types from many replicate populations. Methods by which counting can be automated in high throughput are desirable, but for automated methods to be useful, the bias and technical variance associated with the method must be (a) known, and (b) sufficiently small relative to other sources of bias and variance to make the effort worthwhile. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an important model organism, and the fitness effects of genotype and environmental conditions are often of interest. We report a comparison of three experimental methods of quantifying competitive fitness, in which wild-type strains are competed against GFP-marked competitors under standard laboratory conditions. Population samples were split into three replicates and counted (1) "by eye" from a saved image, (2) from the same image using CellProfiler image analysis software, and (3) with a large particle flow cytometer (a "worm sorter"). From 720 replicate samples, neither the frequency of wild-type worms nor the among-sample variance differed significantly between the three methods. CellProfiler and the worm sorter provide at least a tenfold increase in sample handling speed with little (if any) bias or increase in variance.
Caenorhabditis elegans strains with the heat-sensitive mortal germline phenotype become progressively sterile over the course of a few tens of generations when maintained at temperatures near the upper range of C. elegans’ tolerance. Mortal germline is transgenerationally heritable, and proximately under epigenetic control. Previous studies have suggested that mortal germline presents a relatively large mutational target and that mortal germline is not uncommon in natural populations of C. elegans. The mortal germline phenotype is not monolithic. Some strains exhibit a strong mortal germline phenotype, in which individuals invariably become sterile over a few generations, whereas other strains show a weaker (less penetrant) phenotype in which the onset of sterility is slower and more stochastic. We present results in which we (1) quantify the rate of mutation to the mortal germline phenotype and (2) quantify the frequency of mortal germline in a collection of 95 wild isolates. Over the course of ∼16,000 meioses, we detected one mutation to a strong mortal germline phenotype, resulting in a point estimate of the mutation rate UMrt≈ 6 × 10−5/genome/generation. We detected no mutations to a weak mortal germline phenotype. Six out of 95 wild isolates have a strong mortal germline phenotype, and although quantification of the weak mortal germline phenotype is inexact, the weak mortal germline phenotype is not rare in nature. We estimate a strength of selection against mutations conferring the strong mortal germline phenotype s¯≈0.1%, similar to selection against mutations affecting competitive fitness. The appreciable frequency of weak mortal germline variants in nature combined with the low mutation rate suggests that mortal germline may be maintained by balancing selection.
15Androdioecious Caenorhabditis have a high frequency of self-compatible hermaphrodites and a 16 low frequency of males. The effects of mutations on male fitness are of interest for two reasons. 17First, when males are rare, selection on male-specific mutations is less efficient than in 18hermaphrodites. Second, males may present a larger mutational target than hermaphrodites 19 because of the different ways in which fitness accrues in the two sexes. 20We report the first estimates of male-specific mutational effects in an androdioecious 21 organism. The rate of male-specific inviable or sterile mutations is ≤ 5 x 10 -4 /generation, below 22 the rate at which males would be lost solely due to those kinds of mutations. The rate of 23 mutational decay of male competitive fitness is ~0.17%/generation; that of hermaphrodite 24 competitive fitness is ~0.11%/generation. The point estimate of ~1.5X faster rate of mutational 25 decay of male fitness is nearly identical to the same ratio in Drosophila. Estimates of mutational 26 variance (VM) for male mating success and competitive fitness are not significantly different 27 from zero, whereas VM for hermaphrodite competitive fitness is similar to that of non-28 competitive fitness. The discrepancy between the two sexes is probably due to the greater 29 inherent variability of mating relative to internal self-fertilization. 30 31 peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/115568 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Mar. 9, 2017; Introduction 32 33Several species of nematodes in the genus Caenorhabditis, among them the well-known C. 34 elegans, have evolved an androdioecious mating system in which self-fertilizing hermaphrodites 35 are very common and males are very rare. In C. elegans, for example, the frequency of 36 outcrossing (= male-female mating, because hermaphrodites cannot mate with each other) is 37 thought to be on the order of 1% or less, perhaps much less [1]. Dioecy is ancestral in the 38 genus and most species in the genus are dioecious, although androdioecy has evolved 39 independently at least three times [2]. Moreover, at least in C. elegans, androdioecy appears to 40 have evolved quite recently [3]. averaging about 0.1% under standard husbandry conditions in the N2 strain. However, 48 laboratory populations exposed to variable selection can keep males at significantly higher 49 frequencies [7], consistent with the idea that recombination facilitates adaptive evolution. 50In an androdioecioius population, selection on male function is (i) necessarily weaker 51 than selection on hermaphrodite function and (ii) weaker than selection on male or female 52 function in a dioecious population, because in the absence of males (or females) a dioecious 53 population immediately goes extinct whereas an androdioecious population plods on even in the 54 complete absence of males. Moreover, although selection typically favo...
19Organismal fitness is relevant in many contexts in biology. The most meaningful experimental 20 measure of fitness is competitive fitness, when two or more entities (e.g., genotypes) are 21 allowed to compete directly. In theory, competitive fitness is simple to measure: an 22 experimental population is initiated with the different types in known proportions and allowed to 23 evolve under experimental conditions to a predefined endpoint. In practice, there are several 24 obstacles to obtaining robust estimates of competitive fitness in multicellular organisms, the 25 most pervasive of which is simply the time it takes to count many individuals of different types 26 from many replicate populations. Methods by which counting can be automated in high 27 throughput are desirable, but for automated methods to be useful, the bias and technical 28 variance associated with the method must be (a) known, and (b) sufficiently small relative to 29 other sources of bias and variance to make the effort worthwhile. 30The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is an important model organism, and the fitness 31 effects of genotype and environmental conditions are often of interest. We report a comparison 32 of three experimental methods of quantifying competitive fitness, in which wild-type strains are 33 competed against GFP-marked competitors under standard laboratory conditions. Population 34 samples were split into three replicates and counted (1) "by eye" from a saved image, (2) from 35 the same image using CellProfiler image analysis software, and (3) with a large particle flow 36 cytometer (a "worm sorter"). From 720 replicate samples, neither the frequency of wild-type 37 worms nor the among-sample variance differed significantly between the three methods. 38CellProfiler and the worm sorter provide at least a tenfold increase in sample handling speed 39 with little (if any) bias or increase in variance.
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