Standing genetic variation is considered a major contributor to the adaptive potential of species. The low heritable genetic variation observed in self‐fertilizing populations has led to the hypothesis that species with this mating system would be less likely to adapt. However, a non‐negligible amount of cryptic genetic variation for polygenic traits, accumulated through negative linkage disequilibrium, could prove to be an important source of standing variation in self‐fertilizing species. To test this hypothesis, we simulated populations under stabilizing selection subjected to an environmental change. We demonstrate that, when the mutation rate is high (but realistic), selfing populations are better able to store genetic variance than outcrossing populations through genetic associations, notably due to the reduced effective recombination rate associated with predominant selfing. Following an environmental shift, this diversity can be partially remobilized, which increases the additive variance and adaptive potential of predominantly (but not completely) selfing populations. In such conditions, despite initially lower observed genetic variance, selfing populations adapt as readily as outcrossing ones within a few generations. For low mutation rates, purifying selection impedes the storage of diversity through genetic associations, in which case, as previously predicted, the lower genetic variance of selfing populations results in lower adaptability compared to their outcrossing counterparts. The population size and the mutation rate are the main parameters to consider, as they are the best predictors of the amount of stored diversity in selfing populations. Our results and their impact on our knowledge of adaptation under high selfing rates are discussed.

中文翻译：

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隐藏的遗传变异有助于增加自交种群的短期适应潜力

常设遗传变异被认为是物种适应潜力的主要因素。在自体受精种群中观察到的低遗传性遗传变异导致假设具有这种交配系统的物种不太可能适应。然而，通过负连锁不平衡积累的不可忽视的多基因性状隐性遗传变异可能被证明是自体受精物种常备变异的重要来源。为了验证这一假设，我们模拟了受环境变化影响的稳定选择下的种群。我们证明，当突变率很高（但很现实）时，自交种群比通过遗传关联的异交种群能够更好地存储遗传变异，尤其是由于与主要自交相关的有效重组率降低。在环境转变之后，这种多样性可以部分重新调动，这增加了主要（但不完全）自交种群的加性变异和适应潜力。在这种情况下，尽管最初观察到的遗传变异较低，但自交种群在几代内像异交种群一样容易适应。对于低突变率，净化选择会阻碍通过遗传关联存储多样性，在这种情况下，正如先前预测的那样，自交种群的较低遗传变异导致与其异交对应物相比的适应性较低。种群规模和突变率是要考虑的主要参数，因为它们是自交种群中存储的多样性数量的最佳预测指标。讨论了我们的结果及其对我们在高自交率下的适应知识的影响。