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Pointer, Michael D. 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7926-330X, Nash, Will J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6790-1167, Gage, Matthew J. G., Chapman, Tracey ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2401-8120, Maklakov, Alexei A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5809-1203 and Richardson, David S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7226-9074
(2026)
Sexual selection purges mutation load, but not overall genetic diversity, decreasing vulnerability to extinction.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123 (37).
ISSN 0027-8424
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Abstract
Theory suggests sexual selection will enhance population viability by purging deleterious alleles. However, direct genomic evidence for this fundamental idea is scarce and contradictory. We combined long-term experimental evolution with whole-genome resequencing to directly test how sexual selection affects mutation load, genomic divergence, and extinction risk in small populations (maximum Ne = 40) of Tribolium castaneum. After 156 generations, populations evolving under strong sexual selection carried substantially fewer deleterious alleles than populations under weak sexual selection, based on both individual-level estimates of missense and nonsense variants and population-level Rxy analyses, indicating more efficient purging of deleterious alleles. In contrast, nucleotide diversity and runs of homozygosity were similar across treatments, indicating that purging acted most strongly on deleterious variation, and that reduced mutation load in these small populations under strong sexual selection was not explained by demographic effects. Importantly, population-level mutation load estimates best explained extinction risk under inbreeding, directly linking sexual selection to purging and population viability. Genome scans of high and low sexual selection populations revealed peaks of divergence, which included genes involved in courtship, sex discrimination, and seminal fluid proteins. Our results provide direct genomic evidence that sexual selection can reduce mutation load without eroding standing genetic diversity and thus adaptive potential, while driving adaptive divergence in reproductive traits. This beneficial purging may help explain the widespread prevalence of sexual reproduction in nature despite inherent costs and have important ramifications as to how we manage populations of conservation concern.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Data, Materials, and Software Availability: Genomic sequences data have been deposited in ENA (ERR15115894-ERR15116070). Previously published data were used for this work (18). |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | experimental evolution,mutation load,population viability,sexual selection,general,das in place,data, materials, and software availability genomic sequences data have been deposited in ena (err15115894-err15116070). previously published data were used for this work (18).,2026 ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1000 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Science Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Centres > Norwich Institute for Healthy Aging |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Nov 2026 16:27 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Nov 2026 17:32 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/105088 |
| DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.2608675123 |
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