Random fluctuation of selection coefficients and the extent of nucleotide variation in human populations.

ABSTRACT: It is well known that the selection coefficient of a mutant allele varies from generation to generation, and the effect of this factor on genetic variation has been studied by many theoreticians. However, no consensus has been reached. One group of investigators believes that fluctuating selection has an effect of enhancing genetic variation, whereas the other group contends that it has a diversity-reducing effect. In recent years, it has become possible to study this problem by using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as well as exome sequence data. In this article we present the theoretical distributions of mutant nucleotide frequencies for the two models of fluctuating selection and then compare the distributions with the empirical distributions obtained from SNP and exome sequence

SUBMITTER: Miura S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3696816 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature