ArticleNature2009
Mutation load and rapid adaptation favour outcrossing over self-fertilization.
Article in Nature, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 104 papers.
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Who cites it
104 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evolution of Ivermectin Resistance in the Nematode ModelEvolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Simultaneous and Sequential Coexposures ofmicroPublication biology · 2026Article
- Ginger genome reveals the SMPED1 gene causing sex-phase synchrony and outcrossing in a flowering plant.Nature plants · 2025Article
- Genomic parallelism defines repeated evolution of an inducible offense.Science advances · 2025Article
- Parental-effect gene-drive elements under partial selfing, or why do Caenorhabditis genomes have hyperdivergent regions?Genetics · 2025Article
- Genetic variation in age-dependent attractiveness in a fish with a mixed mating system.Biology letters · 2025Article
- Transgenerational effects of stress on reproduction strategy in the mixed mating plant Lamium amplexicaule.BMC plant biology · 2024Article
- Parental-effect gene-drive elements under partial selfing, or why dobioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Host defense alteration in Caenorhabditis elegans after evolution under ionizing radiation.BMC ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Outcrossing inEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Reproductive system, temperature, and genetic background effects in experimentally evolving populations of Caenorhabditis elegans.PloS one · 2024Article
- High parasite virulence necessary for the maintenance of host outcrossing via parasite-mediated selection.Evolution letters · 2023Article
- Microbes are potential key players in the evolution of life histories and aging inEcology and evolution · 2023Article
- AbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- To self or not to self? Absence of mate choice despite costly outcrossing in the fungus Podospora anserina.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2023Article
- Male frequency inEvolutionary applications · 2022Article
- Article
- Transgenerational inheritance of sexual attractiveness via small RNAs enhances evolvability in C. elegans.Developmental cell · 2022Article
- Gene conversion restores selfing in experimentally evolvingmicroPublication biology · 2022Article
- Mitonuclear Mismatch is Associated With Increased Male Frequency, Outcrossing, and Male Sperm Size in Experimentally-EvolvedFrontiers in genetics · 2022Article
44 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The tendency of organisms to reproduce by cross-fertilization despite numerous disadvantages relative to self-fertilization is one of the oldest puzzles in evolutionary biology. For many species, the primary obstacle to the evolution of outcrossing is the cost of production of males, individuals that do not directly contribute offspring and thus diminish the long-term reproductive output of a lineage. Self-fertilizing ('selfing') organisms do not incur the cost of males and therefore should possess at least a twofold numerical advantage over most outcrossing organisms. Two competing explanations for the widespread prevalence of outcrossing in nature despite this inherent disadvantage are the avoidance of inbreeding depression generated by selfing and the ability of outcrossing populations to adapt more rapidly to environmental change. Here we show that outcrossing is favoured in populations of Caenorhabditis elegans subject to experimental evolution both under conditions of increased mutation rate and during adaptation to a novel environment. In general, fitness increased with increasing rates of outcrossing. Thus, each of the standard explanations for the maintenance of outcrossing are correct, and it is likely that outcrossing is the predominant mode of reproduction in most species because it is favoured under ecological conditions that are ubiquitous in natural environments.
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