Noticias
New publication: Balancing selection maintains hyper-divergent haplotypes in Caenorhabditis elegans
The model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans reproduces mainly through self-fertilization. However, selfing has detrimental effects on the genetic diversity of a species, and therefore adaptive potential. Within the genus Caenorhabditis, selfing has evolved at least three times and within all three species indeed a substantially reduced genetic diversity relative to the outcrossing species is observed. The selfing and outcrossing Caenorhabditis species often occupy the same niches, but how the selfing species with their limited genetic diversity can adapt to these environments remains a question. This paper, recently published in Nature Ecology & Evolution provides an example of how a species can avoid this evolutionary dead-end.