Chaparro-Pedraza P Catalina, Roth Gregory, Melián Carlos J
Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Kastanienbaum, Switzerland.
Department Systems Analysis, Integrated Assessment and Modelling, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), Dübendorf, Switzerland.
Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 5;14(1):30369. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-81770-8.
The presence or absence of sex can have a strong influence on the processes whereby species arise. Yet, the mechanistic underpinnings of this influence are poorly understood. To gain insights into the mechanisms whereby the reproductive mode may influence ecological diversification, we investigate how natural selection, genetic mixing, and the reproductive mode interact and how this interaction affects the evolutionary dynamics of diversifying lineages. To do so, we analyze models of ecological diversification for sexual and asexual lineages, in which diversification is driven by intraspecific resource competition. We find that the reproductive mode strongly influences the diversification rate and, thus, the ensuing diversity of a lineage. Our results reveal that ecologically-based selection is stronger in asexual lineages because asexual organisms have a higher reproductive potential than sexual ones. This promotes faster diversification in asexual lineages. However, a small amount of genetic mixing accelerates the trait expansion process in sexual lineages, overturning the effect of ecologically-based selection alone and enabling a faster niche occupancy than asexual lineages. As a consequence, sexual lineages can occupy more ecological niches, eventually resulting in higher diversity. This suggests that sexual reproduction may be widespread among species because it increases the rate of diversification.
有性生殖或无性生殖的存在与否会对物种形成的过程产生强烈影响。然而，这种影响的机制基础却鲜为人知。为了深入了解生殖模式可能影响生态多样化的机制，我们研究自然选择、基因混合和生殖模式如何相互作用，以及这种相互作用如何影响多样化谱系的进化动态。为此，我们分析了有性和无性谱系的生态多样化模型，其中多样化是由种内资源竞争驱动的。我们发现生殖模式强烈影响多样化速率，进而影响一个谱系随后的多样性。我们的结果表明，基于生态的选择在无性谱系中更强，因为无性生物比有性生物具有更高的繁殖潜力。这促进了无性谱系中更快的多样化。然而，少量的基因混合加速了有性谱系中的性状扩展过程，推翻了仅基于生态的选择的影响，并使得比无性谱系更快地占据生态位。因此，有性谱系可以占据更多的生态位，最终导致更高的多样性。这表明有性生殖可能在物种中广泛存在，因为它提高了多样化速率。
