Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T06:10:24.459Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Theoretical study on the accumulation of selfish DNA*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Tomoko Ohta
Affiliation:
National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, 411, Japan
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The accumulation of selfish DNA in eukaryotic genomes was studied from the standpoint of population genetics. Selfish DNA is assumed to replicate itself within a haploid set. For the selectively neutral case, the fate of a single self-replicating DNA segment (unit) within a population was investigated by the method of the probability generating function, and by Monte Carlo simulation, with special reference to the probability of survival and average number of units per haploid set. For the selectively deleterious case at the organismal level, the equilibrium between new occurrence and selective elimination was studied, and the average and variance of the number of units per haploid set in the population was examined by Monte Carlo simulation. It is shown that the process of self-replication (duplication–deletion) plays an essential role for the maintenance and elimination of selfish DNA.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

References

REFERENCES

Childs, G., Maxson, R., Cohn, R. H. & Kedes, L. (1981). Orphons: dispersed genetic elements derived from tandem repetitive genes of eucaryotes. Cell 23, 651663.Google Scholar
Crow, J. F. (1979). Genes that violate Mendel's rules. Scientific American 240(2), 134146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doolittle, W. F. & Sapienza, C. (1980). Selfish genes, the phenotype paradigm and genome evolution. Nature 284, 601603.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dover, G. (1982). Molecular drive: a cohesive mode of species evolution. Nature 299, 111117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dover, G. & Doolittle, W. F. (1980). Modes of genome evolution. Nature 288, 646647.Google Scholar
Dover, G. & Flavell, R. B. (eds.) (1982). Genome Evolution. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Fedoroff, N. V. (1979). On Spacers. Cell 16, 697710.Google Scholar
Feller, W. (1957). An Introduction to Probability Theory and its Applications, vol. 1. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Hartl, D. L. (1975). Modifier theory and meiotic drive. Theoretical Population Biology 7, 168174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollis, G. F., Bieter, P. A., McBrioe, O. W., Swan, D. & Leder, P. (1982). Processed genes: a dispersed human immunoglobulin gene bearing evidence of RNA-type processing. Nature 25, 321325.Google Scholar
Kimura, M. & Ohta, T. (1969). The average number of generations until fixation of a mutant gene in a finite population. Genetics 61, 763771.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lueders, K., Leder, A., Leder, P. & Kuff, E. (1982). Association between a transposed α-globin pseudogene and retrovirus-like elements in the BALB/c mouse genome. Nature 295, 426428.Google Scholar
Nishioka, Y., Leder, A. & Leder, P. (1980). An unusual alpha globin-like gene that has cleanly lost both globin intervening sequences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 77, 28062809.Google Scholar
Ohno, S. (1970). Evolution by Gene Duplication. Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohta, T. (1980). Evolution and Variation of Multicene Families. Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, vol. 37. Berlin, New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohta, T. (1981). Population genetics of selfish DNA. Nature 292, 648649.Google Scholar
Ohta, T. & Kimura, M. (1981). Some calculations on the amount of selfish DNA. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the, U.S.A. 78, 11291132.Google Scholar
Orgel, L. E. & Crick, F. H. C. (1980). Selfish DNA: the ultimate parasite. Nature 284, 604607.Google Scholar
Prout, T. & Bundgaard, J. (1977). The population genetics of sperm displacement. Genetics 85, 95124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Takahata, N. (1981). A mathematical studyon the distribution of the number of repeated genes per chromosome. Genetical Research 38, 97102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Arsdell, S. W., Denison, R. A., Bernstein, L. B., Weiner, A. M., Manser, T. & Gesteland, R. F. (1981). Direct repeats flank three small nuclear RNA pseudogenes in the human genome. Cell 26, 1117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vanin, E. F., Goldberg, G. I., Tucker, P. W. & Smithies, O. (1980). A mouse α-globin-related pseudogene lacking intervening sequences. Nature 286, 222226.Google Scholar