Effects of genetic drift and gene flow on the selective maintenance of genetic variation.

ABSTRACT: Explanations for the genetic variation ubiquitous in natural populations are often classified by the population-genetic processes they emphasize: natural selection or mutation and genetic drift. Here we investigate models that incorporate all three processes in a spatially structured population, using what we call a construction approach, simulating finite populations under selection that are bombarded with a steady stream of novel mutations. As expected, the amount of genetic variation compared to previous models that ignored the stochastic effects of drift was reduced, especially for smaller populations and when spatial structure was most profound. By contrast, however, for higher levels of gene flow and larger population sizes, the amount of genetic variation found after many generation

SUBMITTER: Star B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3632471 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature