Computer simulations of breeding regimes
We conducted computer simulations in SLiM3 to examine the impact of four
breeding regimes on genetic and realised load, neutral genetic
diversity, and fitness. In the “Minimise load” regime we examined
whether mate pair selection can reduce the realised load of the
offspring and alleviate inbreeding depression. However, purifying
selection against the genetic load can reduce genetic diversity and
result in the fixation of mildly deleterious mutations . To address this
concern, we explored the impact reducing relatedness (or kinship) of
parents, and this was simulated in the “Minimise relatedness” regime.
Additionally, we simulated a regime that aimed to minimise realised load
of the offspring whilst maintaining genetic diversity, “Minimise load
and relatedness” regime. Here, exactly one male and one female from
each family were selected to mate with an optimal partner from another
family, to minimise realised load of their offspring. Finally, we
simulated random mating “Random mating” regime. In each regime we
randomly sampled 20 monogamous pairs of males and females and allowed
each pair to produce a brood of 64 offspring per generation. We ran 100
replicates for each regime for 50 generations. Further detail about the
breeding regimes and SliM model are given in Supplementary Information.