Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42709809›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2026

Sexual selection purges mutation load, but not overall genetic diversity, decreasing vulnerability to extinction.

Michael D Pointer, Will J Nash, Matthew J G Gage, Tracey Chapman, Alexei A Maklakov, David S Richardson

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Michael D PointerDepartment of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-7926-330X
Will J NashDepartment of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6790-1167
Matthew J G GageDepartment of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.
Tracey ChapmanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-2401-8120
Alexei A MaklakovDepartment of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-5809-1203
David S RichardsonDepartment of Biological Sciences, Department of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-7226-9074

Funding

UKRI | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) NE/T007885/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Theory suggests sexual selection will enhance population viability by purging deleterious alleles. However, direct genomic evidence for this fundamental idea is scarce and contradictory. We combined long-term experimental evolution with whole-genome resequencing to directly test how sexual selection affects mutation load, genomic divergence, and extinction risk in small populations (maximum N

Indexed as

Extinction, BiologicalGenetic VariationMutationSexual SelectionTriboliumAllelesAnimalsFemaleMaleSelection, Geneticexperimental evolutionmutation loadpopulation viabilitysexual selection

Identifiers

PMID42709809
PMCPMC13578823

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.