Nonrespiring mitochondria can increase in frequency in popul

Non-respiring mitochondria can increase in frequency in populations of yeast cells because:

a. They provide an alternative fitness benefit to the yeast

b. They can divide more quickly than healthy mitochondria and have no cost on the fitness of the yeast

c. They can divide more quickly than wild-type mitochondria and have only marginal fitness costs that are not significant at smaller population sizes

d. They provide an alternative marginal fitness benefit that selection can only act on at large enough population sizes

Solution

Non-respiring mitochondria can increase in frequency in population of yeast cells. This is due to the fact that they can divide quicker than the wild type and there is no oxidative stress., and have only marginal fitness costs that are not significant at smaller population sizes.