Non-selective evolution of growing populations

Abstract

Non-selective effects, like genetic drift, are an important factor in modern conceptions of evolution, and have been extensively studied for constant population sizes. Here, we consider non-selective evolution in the case of growing populations that are of small size and have varying trait compositions (e.g. after a population bottleneck). We find that, in these conditions, populations never fixate to a trait, but tend to a random limit composition, and that the distribution of compositions 'freezes' to a steady state This final state is crucially influenced by the initial conditions. We obtain these findings from a combined theoretical and experimental approach, using multiple mixed subpopulations of two Pseudomonas putida strains in non-selective growth conditions as model system. The experimental results for the population dynamics match the theoretical predictions based on the Pólya urn model for all analyzed parameter regimes. In summary, we show that exponential growth stops genetic drift. This result contrasts with previous theoretical analyses of non-selective evolution (e.g. genetic drift), which investigated how traits spread and eventually take over populations (fixate). Moreover, our work highlights how deeply growth influences non-selective evolution, and how it plays a key role in maintaining genetic variability. Consequently, it is of particular importance in life-cycles models of periodically shrinking and expanding populations.

9 pages, 4 figures, and 8 pages supplementary information (with 3 figures and 2 tables)

References in corpus (5)

• Genetic drift at expanding frontiers promotes gene segregation
• A survey of random processes with reinforcement
• Stochastic Models of Evolution in Genetics, Ecology and Linguistics
• Growth dynamics and the evolution of cooperation in microbial populations
• Evolutionary game theory in growing populations

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Master equations and the theory of stochastic path integrals
• Evolution of a Fluctuating Population in a Randomly Switching Environment
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• Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics of a Population with Randomly Switching Carrying Capacity
• Interactions mediated by a public good transiently increase cooperativity in growing Pseudomonas putida metapopulations
• Evolutionary Dynamics in a Varying Environment: Continuous versus Discrete Noise
• Cooperation in Microbial Populations: Theory and Experimental Model Systems
• Game-environment feedback dynamics in growing population: Effect of finite carrying capacity