An approximate bayesian estimator suggests strong, recurrent selective sweeps in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: The recurrent fixation of newly arising, beneficial mutations in a species reduces levels of linked neutral variability. Models positing frequent weakly beneficial substitutions or, alternatively, rare, strongly selected substitutions predict similar average effects on linked neutral variability, if the product of the rate and strength of selection is held constant. We propose an approximate Bayesian (ABC) polymorphism-based estimator that can be used to distinguish between these models, and apply it to multi-locus data from Drosophila melanogaster. We investigate the extent to which inference about the strength of selection is sensitive to assumptions about the underlying distributions of the rates of substitution and recombination, the strength of selection, heterogeneity in mutation rat

SUBMITTER: Jensen JD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2529407 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature