The paradox of extremely fast evolution driven in multi-copy gene systems - A resolution (Updated May 9, 2024).

A preprint abstract discusses the paradox of extremely fast evolution in multi-copy gene systems. These systems, which include viruses, mitochondrial DNAs, transposons, and multi-gene families, should evolve slower than single-copy systems, but the opposite is often true. The standard Wright-Fisher model for molecular evolution cannot track multi-copy genes, but a newly expanded WF-Haldane model has been applied to ribosomal rRNA genes. The study finds that genetic drift of rRNA genes is 200-300 times higher than single-copy genes, reducing the effective number of copies to less than one. This research provides insight into the random neutral forces of evolution and challenges the interpretation of natural selection. [Extracted from the article]