Temperature-dependence of spontaneous mutation rates [article]

Ann-Marie Waldvogel, Markus Pfenninger
2020 bioRxiv   pre-print
Mutation is the source of genetic variation and the fundament of evolution. At the inter-phase of ecology and evolution, temperature has long been suggested to have a direct impact on realised spontaneous mutation rates. The question is whether mutation rates can be a species-specific constant under variable environmental conditions, such as variation of the ambient temperature. By combining mutation accumulation with whole genome sequencing in a multicellular organism, we provide empirical
more » ... ort to reject this null hypothesis. Instead mutation rates depend on temperature in a U-shaped manner with increasing rates towards both temperature extremes. This relation has important implications for mutation dependent processes in molecular evolution, processes shaping the evolution of mutation rates and even the evolution of biodiversity as such.
doi:10.1101/2020.11.03.366807 fatcat:gdipoa2cwrc3bb7w2nk3trm6ji