Inbreeding load virtually eliminated in Drosophila after long-term purging.
Inbreeding depression, which is when inbred individuals have lower fitness, is a common issue in biology and breeding. Scientists studied how inbreeding over many generations affects fruit flies. They found that after around 100 generations, the negative effects of inbreeding were mostly gone in large populations. This happened because harmful genes were removed through a process called genetic purging. The results suggest that inbreeding can actually help get rid of bad genes in the long run.