On the evolution of recombination in haploids and diploids: I. Deterministic models

In population genetic theory, most analytical and numerical studies of the evolution of recombination have focused on diploid genetics. In studies of the foundations and applications of genetic algorithms (GA's), however, the bit‐strings are usually treated as haploid genotypes. In this paper and its companion paper (Bergman et al., 1995), we compare results for the evolutionary dynamics of modifiers of recombination in haploids with results derived for diploids. In this paper, we study the evolution of an allele that controls the rate of recombination between two loci subject to directional selection. It is shown analytically that the fate of a recombination modifier in both haploids and diploids is determined in a complicated way by the sign of the epistasis (interaction in fitness) between the loci, the sign of the initial linkage disequilibrium, and the amount of recombination between the modifier and the genes under selection. This theory is deterministic in that the population is regarded as infinite and no sampling occurs to produce offspring from parents. In the companion paper (Bergman et al., Complexity, 1(2) 1995), we expand upon this work by addressing epistatic interactions among several loci in finite populations.