Background selection as baseline for nucleotide variation across the Drosophila genome.

ABSTRACT: The constant removal of deleterious mutations by natural selection causes a reduction in neutral diversity and efficacy of selection at genetically linked sites (a process called Background Selection, BGS). Population genetic studies, however, often ignore BGS effects when investigating demographic events or the presence of other types of selection. To obtain a more realistic evolutionary expectation that incorporates the unavoidable consequences of deleterious mutations, we generated high-resolution landscapes of variation across the Drosophila melanogaster genome under a BGS scenario independent of polymorphism data. We find that BGS plays a significant role in shaping levels of variation across the entire genome, including long introns and intergenic regions distant from annotated genes

SUBMITTER: Comeron JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4072542 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature