[{"citation":{"mla":"Svoboda, Jakub, et al. “The Effect of the Fitness Gradient on Fixation Probability.” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol. 17, 5325, Springer Nature, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2\">10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2</a>.","ista":"Svoboda J, Nemati H, Tkadlec J, Kaveh K, Chatterjee K. 2026. The effect of the fitness gradient on fixation probability. Nature Communications. 17, 5325.","ama":"Svoboda J, Nemati H, Tkadlec J, Kaveh K, Chatterjee K. The effect of the fitness gradient on fixation probability. <i>Nature Communications</i>. 2026;17. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2\">10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2</a>","apa":"Svoboda, J., Nemati, H., Tkadlec, J., Kaveh, K., &#38; Chatterjee, K. (2026). The effect of the fitness gradient on fixation probability. <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer Nature. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2</a>","short":"J. Svoboda, H. Nemati, J. Tkadlec, K. Kaveh, K. Chatterjee, Nature Communications 17 (2026).","ieee":"J. Svoboda, H. Nemati, J. Tkadlec, K. Kaveh, and K. Chatterjee, “The effect of the fitness gradient on fixation probability,” <i>Nature Communications</i>, vol. 17. Springer Nature, 2026.","chicago":"Svoboda, Jakub, Hossein Nemati, Josef Tkadlec, Kamran Kaveh, and Krishnendu Chatterjee. “The Effect of the Fitness Gradient on Fixation Probability.” <i>Nature Communications</i>. Springer Nature, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2</a>."},"article_processing_charge":"Yes","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2041-1723"]},"researchdata_availability":"no","OA_type":"gold","oa":1,"das_tickbox":"0","pmid":1,"day":"01","oa_version":"Published Version","OA_place":"publisher","article_type":"original","article_number":"5325","date_created":"2026-06-21T22:02:59Z","_id":"22101","acknowledgement":"J.S. and K.C. were supported by the European Research Council (ERC)\r\nCoG 863818 (ForM-SMArt) and Austrian Science Fund (FWF) 10.55776/\r\nCOE12. J.T. was supported by GAČR grant 25-17377S and by Charles\r\nUniv. projects UNCE 24/SCI/008 and PRIMUS 24/SCI/012.","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Evolutionary biology examines how the genetic and phenotypic composition\r\nof populations changes over time. An important goal is to determine the\r\nfixation probability of a single advantageous mutant that arises in a homogeneous\r\npopulation of N residents. Many real populations experience environmental\r\ngradients that cause mutations to be beneficial in some spatial\r\nregions but harmful in others. Here, we study the fixation probability of a\r\nmutant placed on a simple one-dimensional spatial structure that experiences\r\nsuch a gradient. The mutant’s fitness varies linearly from1 − s to 1 + s, whereas\r\nthe resident fitness is constant and equal to 1. The existing literature suggests\r\nthat such heterogeneity in the mutant’s fitness should lead to a decrease in its\r\nfixation probability. However, in this work, we find that small, non-negligible\r\ngradients (s < 1=√N) substantially increase the fixation probability,while larger\r\ngradients (s > (log N)/√N) substantially decrease it.Moreover, we quantify the\r\nstrength of this phenomenon analytically and we precisely delimit the range of\r\nthe gradients for which it occurs. Our computer simulations closely match\r\nthose findings. Altogether, our results indicate that subjecting a simple\r\npopulation structure to natural environmental conditions can produce strong\r\ncounterintuitive effects."}],"quality_controlled":"1","year":"2026","date_updated":"2026-06-24T07:53:53Z","department":[{"_id":"KrCh"}],"type":"journal_article","DOAJ_listed":"1","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","corr_author":"1","month":"12","has_accepted_license":"1","project":[{"name":"Formal Methods for Stochastic Models: Algorithms and Applications","_id":"0599E47C-7A3F-11EA-A408-12923DDC885E","grant_number":"863818","call_identifier":"H2020"}],"scopus_import":"1","external_id":{"pmid":["41997932"]},"doi":"10.1038/s41467-026-71777-2","supplementarymaterial":"yes","file_date_updated":"2026-06-24T06:50:24Z","publication":"Nature Communications","file":[{"creator":"dernst","date_created":"2026-06-24T06:50:24Z","checksum":"b660048bb271f24d6763803e247d5c32","success":1,"relation":"main_file","content_type":"application/pdf","date_updated":"2026-06-24T06:50:24Z","file_size":1068919,"file_name":"2026_NatureComm_Svoboda.pdf","file_id":"22136","access_level":"open_access"}],"intvolume":"        17","status":"public","dataavailabilitystatement":"Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Krishnendu Chatterjee.","ddc":["000"],"volume":17,"publication_status":"published","tmp":{"short":"CC BY-NC-ND (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode","image":"/images/cc_by_nc_nd.png"},"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"title":"The effect of the fitness gradient on fixation probability","author":[{"last_name":"Svoboda","full_name":"Svoboda, Jakub","first_name":"Jakub","orcid":"0000-0002-1419-3267","id":"130759D2-D7DD-11E9-87D2-DE0DE6697425"},{"last_name":"Nemati","first_name":"Hossein","full_name":"Nemati, Hossein"},{"last_name":"Tkadlec","first_name":"Josef","full_name":"Tkadlec, Josef","id":"3F24CCC8-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-1097-9684"},{"last_name":"Kaveh","first_name":"Kamran","full_name":"Kaveh, Kamran"},{"full_name":"Chatterjee, Krishnendu","first_name":"Krishnendu","last_name":"Chatterjee","id":"2E5DCA20-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-4561-241X"}],"ec_funded":1,"publisher":"Springer Nature","date_published":"2026-12-01T00:00:00Z"}]