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The impact of epistatic selection on the genomic traces of selection
Author(s) -
OTTO SARAH P.,
WHITLOCK MICHAEL C.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2009.04425.x
Subject(s) - epistasis , biology , selection (genetic algorithm) , evolutionary biology , genetic variation , variation (astronomy) , genetics , gene , machine learning , computer science , physics , astrophysics
The rapid accumulation of genomic data has led to an explosion of studies searching for signals of past selection left within DNA sequences. Yet the majority of theoretical studies investigating the traces of selection have assumed a simple form of selection, without interactions among selectively fixed sites. Fitness interactions—‘epistasis’—are commonplace, however, and take on a myriad of forms (Whitlock et al. 1995; Segrè et al. 2005; Phillips 2008). It is thus important to determine how such epistasis would influence selective sweeps. On p. 5018 of this issue, Takahasi (2009) explores the effect of epistasis on genetic variation neighbouring two sites that interact in determining fitness, finding that such epistasis has a dramatic impact on the genetic variability in regions surrounding the interacting sites.