Natural Selection in Spatially Structured Populations

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Population genetics explains the complex patterns of genetic variation that we observe in the world around us, and shows how these lead to the evolution of adaptation and diversity. The spatial variation that we see in almost all populations can tell us about the history of the species, and about how selection has acted. It is especially important now that we need to analyse the mass of DNA sequence data that has recently become available. However, until now there have been fundamental difficulties in formulating a consistent model of spatially continuous populations. We have developed just such a model, and shown how it can account for the large-scale changes that we see in real populations. In this project, we will extend the model to understand how selection acts in a spatial context. Amongst the questions we will ask are: How best to infer the history of a population from genetic data? Can selection on whole populations, rather than on individuals be effective? How do favourable genes spread through a species?