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Population genetics of selfish DNA

Nature volume 292, pages 648–649 (1981)Cite this article

Abstract

Selfish DNA, which contains no genetic information but which is perpetuated in eukaryote genomes, has attracted much attention recently1–4. Two classes of selfish DNA have been distinguished: tandemly repetitive sequences such as satellite DNA and dispersed repeated families. Unequal crossing-over is considered to be mainly responsible for spreading of the former, and an integration mechanism (as in bacterial transposons) for evolution of the latter. Here I derive equations and simulate distributions (using randomly generated numbers as data) to show how the numbers of tandem and dispersed repeat units of selfish DNA in a population change with time. I find that whereas the mean number of clustered and dispersed units remains constant, the distribution becomes increasingly dispersed with time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, 411, Japan

    Tomoko Ohta

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  1. Tomoko Ohta
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Ohta, T. Population genetics of selfish DNA. Nature 292, 648–649 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292648a0

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