Abstract

Inbreeding depression — the reduced survival and fertility of offspring of related individuals — occurs in wild animal and plant populations as well as in humans, indicating that genetic variation in fitness traits exists in natural populations. Inbreeding depression is important in the evolution of outcrossing mating systems and, because intercrossing inbred strains improves yield (heterosis), which is important in crop breeding, the genetic basis of these effects has been debated since the early twentieth century. Classical genetic studies and modern molecular evolutionary approaches now suggest that inbreeding depression and heterosis are predominantly caused by the presence of recessive deleterious mutations in populations.

Author affiliations

1. Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Ashworth Laboratories, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, UK.
2. Department of Biology, Box 90338, 3314 French Family Science Center, Science Drive, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.

Correspondence to: Deborah Charlesworth¹ Email: deborah.charlesworth@ed.ac.uk

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