A method to infer positive selection from marker dynamics in an asexual population.

ABSTRACT:

Motivation

The observation of positive selection acting on a mutant indicates that the corresponding mutation has some form of functional relevance. Determining the fitness effects of mutations thus has relevance to many interesting biological questions. One means of identifying beneficial mutations in an asexual population is to observe changes in the frequency of marked subsets of the population. We here describe a method to estimate the establishment times and fitnesses of beneficial mutations from neutral marker frequency data.

Results

The method accurately reproduces complex marker frequency trajectories. In simulations for which positive selection is close to 5% per generation, we obtain correlations upwards of 0.91 between correct and inferred haplotype establishment

SUBMITTER: Illingworth CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3307107 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature