Inbreeding and haploid chromosomes: A response to hedrick (2011)

We have shown that inbreeding allows maternally transmitted organelles to respond to selection on male-specific fitness effects (Wade and Brandvain 2009, see also Unckless and Herren 2009). Hedrick (2011) confirms our results, but takes issue with our characterization of "inbreeding" at mitochondrial loci. The reason for this disagreement is straightforward-we define inbreeding as the process of mating between relatives, whereas Hedrick (2011) defines inbreeding as increased homozygosity at autosomal loci genome-wide, which occurs because of mating between relatives. Here, we insist that our definition is not incorrect, and highlight some benefits of our view.