| Abstract: | Self-fertilization is a common form of reproduction in plants and it has important implications for quantitative trait evolution. Here, I present a model of selection on quantitative traits that can accommodate any level of self-fertilization. The “structured linear model” (SLM) predicts the evolution of the mean phenotype as a function of three distinct quantities: the mean additive genetic value, the directional dominance, and the mean inbreeding coefficient. Stochastic simulations of truncation selection demonstrate the accuracy of the SLM in predicting changes in the mean and variance of a quantitative trait over the full range of selfing rates. They also illustrate how complex interactions between selection and mating system determine the population distribution of inbreeding coefficients and also the amount of linkage disequilibrium. Changes in the genetic variance due to linkage disequilibria, which are commonly referred to as the “Bulmer effect,” are greatly magnified by selfing. This complicates the relationship between selfing rate and response to selection. Like the random mating theory, the parameters of the SLM can be estimated from phenotypic data. |
