Some calculations on the amount of selfish DNA

Abstract

A population genetical theory is developed to treat the amount of selfish DNA in a genome. We assume that the selfish DNA consists of replicating units and that it evolves by multiplication within a genome, exchange between genomes, and random genetic drift at reproduction. Special reference is made to the mean and variance of the number of replicating units per genome in the population. Under the assumption of no systematic evolutionary pressure, the number of units changes randomly with time, and its variance increases by replication process. Although under certain circumstances the variance increases also by exchange process, under ordinary circumstances this process tends to decrease the variance. Random genetic drift also reduces the variance. The relationship between the mean and variance at equilibrium of the number of replicating units per genome in the population was derived. The results obtained will be useful in understanding various observations on repeated DNA which presumably does not contain genetic information and which is likely to be selectively neutral.