On the evolution of epistasis III: The haploid case with mutation

Abstract

Whether interaction between genes is better represented by synergistic or antagonistic epistasis has been a focus of experimental research in bacterial population genetics. Our previous research on evolution of modifiers of epistasis in diploid systems has indicated that the strength of positive or negative epistasis should increase provided linkage disequilibrium is maintained. Here we study a modifier of epistasis in fitness between two loci in a haploid system. Epistasis is modified in the neighborhood of a mutation–selection balance. We show that when linkage in the three-locus system is tight, an increase in the frequency of a modifier allele that induces either more negative or more positive epistasis is possible. Epistasis here can be measured on either an additive or multiplicative scale.