Muller's ratchet in symbiont populations.

Abstract excerpt

Muller's ratchet, the inevitable accumulation of deleterious mutations in asexual populations, has been proposed as a major factor in genome degradation of obligate symbiont organisms. Essentially, if left unchecked the ratchet will with certainty cause extinction due to the ever increasing mutational load. This paper examines the evolutionary fate of insect symbionts, using mathematical modelling to simulate the...

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