Signatures of natural selection on genetic variants affecting complex human traits.

ABSTRACT: It has recently been hypothesized that polygenic adaptation, resulting in modest allele frequency changes at many loci, could be a major mechanism behind the adaptation of complex phenotypes in human populations. Here we leverage the large number of variants that have been identified through genome-wide association (GWA) studies to comprehensively study signatures of natural selection on genetic variants associated with complex traits. Using population differentiation based methods, such as F_ST and phylogenetic branch length analyses, we systematically examined nearly 1300 SNPs associated with 38 complex phenotypes. Instead of detecting selection signatures at individual variants, we aimed to identify combined evidence of natural selection by aggregating signals across ma

SUBMITTER: Zhang G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5121263 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature