About: Balanced lethal systems

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In evolutionary biology, a balanced lethal system is a situation where recessive lethal alleles are present on two homologous chromosomes. Each of the chromosomes in such a pair carries a different lethal allele, which is compensated for by the functioning allele on the other chromosome. Since both these lethal alleles end up in the gametes in the same frequency as the functioning alleles, half of the offspring, the homozygotes, receive two copies of a lethal allele and therefore die during development. In such systems, only the heterozygotes survive.

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  • In evolutionary biology, a balanced lethal system is a situation where recessive lethal alleles are present on two homologous chromosomes. Each of the chromosomes in such a pair carries a different lethal allele, which is compensated for by the functioning allele on the other chromosome. Since both these lethal alleles end up in the gametes in the same frequency as the functioning alleles, half of the offspring, the homozygotes, receive two copies of a lethal allele and therefore die during development. In such systems, only the heterozygotes survive. Balanced lethal systems appear to pose a challenge to evolutionary theory, since a system so wasteful should be rapidly eliminated through natural selection and recombination. Instead, it has become fixed in various species all over the tree of life. (en)
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  • In evolutionary biology, a balanced lethal system is a situation where recessive lethal alleles are present on two homologous chromosomes. Each of the chromosomes in such a pair carries a different lethal allele, which is compensated for by the functioning allele on the other chromosome. Since both these lethal alleles end up in the gametes in the same frequency as the functioning alleles, half of the offspring, the homozygotes, receive two copies of a lethal allele and therefore die during development. In such systems, only the heterozygotes survive. (en)
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  • Balanced lethal systems (en)
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