Individual histories and selection in heterogeneous populations.

ABSTRACT: The strength of selection in populations has traditionally been inferred by measuring changes in bulk population parameters, such as mean reproductive rates. Untangling the effect of selection from other factors, such as specific responses to environmental fluctuations, poses a significant problem both in microbiology and in other fields, including cancer biology and immunology, where selection occurs within phenotypically heterogeneous populations of cells. Using "individual histories"--temporal sequences of all reproduction events and phenotypic changes of individuals and their ancestors--we present an alternative approach to quantifying selection in diverse experimental settings. Selection is viewed as a process that acts on histories, and a measure of selection that employs the distrib

SUBMITTER: Leibler S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2919897 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature