In bilaterian animals, the mitochondrial genome is small, haploid, does not typically recombine, and is subject to accumulation of deleterious alleles via Muller's ratchet. These basic features of the genomic architecture present a paradox: mutational erosion of these genomes should lead to decline in mitochondrial function over time, yet no such decline is observed. Compensatory coevolution, whereby the nuclear genome evolves to compensate for the deleterious alleles in the mitochondrial genome, presents a potential solution to the paradox of Muller's ratchet without loss of function. Here, I review different proposed forms of mitonuclear compensatory coevolution. Empirical evidence from diverse eukaryotic taxa supports the mitonuclear compensatory coevolution hypothesis, but the ubiquity and importance of such compensatory coevolution remains a topic of debate.

中文翻译：

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微核补偿协同进化。

在双侧动物中，线粒体基因组较小，为单倍体，通常不会重组，并且会通过穆勒的棘轮积累有害等位基因。基因组结构的这些基本特征提出了一个悖论：随着时间的流逝，这些基因组的突变侵蚀将导致线粒体功能的下降，但没有观察到这种下降。补偿性共进化，即核基因组进化以补偿线粒体基因组中的有害等位基因，为穆勒棘轮悖论提供了一种潜在的解决方案，而不会丧失功能。在这里，我回顾了微核代偿协同进化的不同提议形式。来自各种真核生物类群的经验证据支持微核代偿性协同进化假说，