Article
Experimental evidence supports a sex-specific selective sieve in mitochondrial genome evolution.
Science (New York, N.Y.) - 13 May 2011
Innocenti Paolo, Morrow Edward H, Dowling Damian K
Abstract excerpt
Mitochondria are maternally transmitted; hence, their genome can only make a direct and adaptive response to selection through females, whereas males represent an evolutionary dead end. In theory, this creates a sex-specific selective sieve, enabling deleterious mutations to accumulate in mitochondrial genomes if they exert male-specific effects. We tested this hypothesis, expressing five mitochondrial variants...
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