Skip to main content
Log in

Memes of Haldane and Jayakar in a theory of sex

Journal of Genetics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The history of mathematical modelling of communities and polymorphisms under intrinsic fluctuating selection is outlined. Authors have usually encountered difficulty in obtaining stability in cases involving host-parasite relations. Stability may in fact be uncommon. On the other handprotection of diversity (non-extinction of rare species or variants) may instead be common and important.

Within multilocus systems, mild truncalion selection on a host-parasite system both protects variation and is supportative of sexuality against parthenogenesis even when sex pays a full cost-that is, even if sex has halved the efficiency of reproduction due to production of males. Truncation based on heritable health, which is itself based on polygenic resistance to parasites, provides the most robust and universal model supporting sex yet presented.

The separate and joint roles of J. B. S. Haldane and S. D. Jayakar in originaüng ideas now incorporated in the model are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bell G. 1982The masterpiece of nature: The evolution and genetics of sexuality (Berkeley: University of California Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein H., Hopf F. A. and Michod R. 1988 Is meiotic recombination an adaptation for repairing DNA, producing genetic variation, or both? InThe evolution of sex (eds) R. E. Michod and B. Levin (Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer) pp. 139–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Cazenave P. A., Benammar A., Sogn J. A. and Kindt T. J. 1987 Immunoglobulin genes in the feral rabbit. InThe rabbit in contemporary immunological research (ed.) S. Dubiski (Harlow, Essex: Longman) pp. 148–163

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke B. 1976 The ecological genetics of host-parasite relationships, InThe ecological genetics of host. parasite relationships (eds.) A. E. R. Taylor and R. Muller (Oxford: Black well Scientific) pp. 87–103

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempster E. R. 1955 Maintenance of genetic heterogeneity,Cold Spring Harbor Symp.Quant. Biol. 20: 25–32

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eshel I. 1977 On the founder effect and the evolution of altruistic traits: an ecogenetical approach.Theor. Pop. Biol. 11: 410–424

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Eshel I. and Akin E. 1983 Evolutionary instability of mixed Nash solutions.J. Math. Biol. 18: 123–133

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Figueroa F., Günther E. and Klein J. 1988 MHC polymorphism pre-dating speciation.Nature (London) 335: 265–267

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher R. A. 1958The genetical theory of natural selection 2nd Edn. (New York: Dover)

    Google Scholar 

  • Haldane J. B. S. 1949 Disease and evolution. InSymposium sui fattori ecologici e genetici della speciazione negli animali, Supplemento a La Ricerca Scientifica Anno 19° pp. 68–75

  • Haldane J. B. S. and Jayakar S. D. 1963 Polymorphism due to selection of varying direction.J. Genet. 58: 318–323

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1975a Gamblers since life began: barnacles aphids elms (A review).Q. Rev. Biol. 50: 175–180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1975b Innate social aptitudes of man: an approach from evolutionary genetics. InBiosocial anthropology (ed.) R. Fox (London: Malaby) pp. 133–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1980 Sex versus non-sex versus parasite.Oikos 35: 282–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1982 Pathogens as causes of genetic diversity in their host populations. InPopulation biology of infectious diseases (eds) R. M. Anderson and R. M. May (Berlin: Springer) pp. 269–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1986 Instability and cycling of two competing hosts with two parasites. InEvolutionary processes and theory (eds) S. Karlin and E. Nevo (New York: Academic Press) pp. 645–668

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1988 Sex and disease. InEvolution of sex (eds) G. Stevens and R. Bellig (San Francisco: Harper and Row)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D. 1990 Seething genetics of health and the evolution of sex. InProc. Int. Symp. on Evolution of Life, March 25—28th 1990 (Tokyo: Springer) (in press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton W. D., Axelrod R. and Tanese R. 1990 Sexual reproduction as an adaptation to resist parasites.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (in press)

  • Hamilton W. D., Henderson P. A. and Moran N. A. 1981 Fluctuation of environment and coevolved antagonist polymorphism as factors in the maintenance of sex. InNatural selection and social behaviour: Recent research and theory (eds) R. D. Alexander and D. W. Tinkle (New York: Chiron) pp. 363–381

    Google Scholar 

  • Hillis D. 1990 Co-evolving parasites improve simulated evolution as an optimisation procedure.Physica D (in press)

  • Jayakar S. 1970 A mathematical model for interaction of gene frequencies in a parasite and its host.Theor. Pop. Biol. 1: 140–164

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Karlin S. and Campbell R. B. 1981 The existence of a protected polymorphism under conditions of soft as opposed to hard selection in a multi-deme population system.Am. Nat. 117: 262–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kimura M. and Crow J. 1979 Efficiency of truncation selection.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 76: 396–399

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kirkpatrick M. and Jenkins C. D. 1989 Genetic segregation and the maintenance of sexual reproduction.Nature (London) 339: 300–301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kondrashov A. S. 1982 Selection against harmful mutations in large sexual and asexual populationsGenet.Res. Camb. 40: 325–332

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kondrashov A. S. 1988 Deleterious mutations and the evolution of sexual reproduction.Nature (London) 336: 435–440

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lawlor D., Ward A. F. E., Ennis P. D., Jackson A. P. and Parham P. 1988 HLA-A and B polymorphisms predate the divergence of humans and chimpanzees.Nature (London) 335: 268–271

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Levene H. 1953 Genetic equilibrium when more than one ecological niche is available.Am. Nat. 87: 331–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin D. A. 1975 Pest pressure and recombination systems in plants.Am. Nat. 109: 437–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levin S. 1983 Some approaches to the modelling of coevolutionary interactions. InCoevolution (ed.) M. Nitecki (Chicago: University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis J. W. 1981 On the coevolution of pathogen and host (Parts I and II).J. Theor. Biol. 93: 927–985

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lewontin R. C. and Hubby J. L. 1966 A molecular approach to the study of genic heterozygosity in natural populations. II. Amount of variation and degree of heterozygosity in natural populations ofDrosophila pseudoobscura.Genetics 54: 595–609

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lomnicki A. 1988Population ecology of individuals (Princeton: University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith J. 1978The evolution of sex (Cambridge: University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • May R. M. 1973Stability and complexity in model ecosystems (Princeton: University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • May R. M. 1983 Regulation of populations with non-overlapping generations by microparasites: a purely chaotic syslem.Am. Nat. 125: 573–584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michod R. E. and Levin B. (eds) 1988The euolution of sex (Sunderland: Sinauer)

    Google Scholar 

  • Mode C. J. 1958 A mathematical model for the coevolution of obligate parasites and their hosts.Evolution 12: 158–165

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mode C. J. 1960 A model of a host-pathogen system with particular reference to the rusts of cereals. InBiometrical genetics (ed.) O. Kempthorne (Oxford: Pergamon Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Nothel H. 1987 Adaptation ofDrosophila melanogaster populations to high mutation pressure: evolutionary adjustment of mutation rates.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84: 1045–1049.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sagai T., Sakaizumi M., Miyashita N., Bonhomme F., Petras M. L., Nielsen J. T., Shiroishi T. and Moriwaki K. 1989 New evidence for trans-species evolution in the H-2 class I polymorphism.Immunogenetics 30: 89–98

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Scudo F. M. and Ziegler J. R. 1978The golden age of theoretical ecology. Lecture notes in biomathematics — 22 (Berlin: Springer)

    Google Scholar 

  • Selten R. 1980 A note on evolutionarily stable strategies in asymmetric animal conflicts.J. Theor. Biol. 84: 93–101

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sved J. A. 1968 Possible rates of gene substitution in evolution.Am. Nat. 102: 283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stearns S. C. (ed.) 1987The evolution of sex and its consequences (Basel: Birkhauser)

    Google Scholar 

  • Treisman M. 1976 The evolution of sexual reproduction: a model which assumes individual selection.J. Theor. Biol. 60: 421–431

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • van der Loo W. 1987 Studies on the adaptive significance of the immunoglobulin alleles (lg allotypes) in the wild rabbit. InThe rabbit in contemporary immunological research (ed.) S. Dubiski (Harlous, Essex: Longman) pp. 164–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker I. 1978 The evolution of sexual reproduction as a repair mechanism. Part I. A model for self- repair and its biological implications.Acta Biotheor. 27: 133–158

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace B. 1975 Hard and soft selection revisited.Evolution 29: 465–473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinshall D. 1986 Why is a two-environment system not rich enough to explain the evolution of sex?Am. Nat. 128: 736–750

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams G. C. 1975Sex in cvolution (Princeton: University Press)

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills C. 1978 Rank order selection is capable of maintaining all genetic polymorphisms.Genetics 89: 403–417

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hamilton, W.D. Memes of Haldane and Jayakar in a theory of sex. J. Genet. 69, 17–32 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931664

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02931664

Keywords

Navigation