Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:04:48.522Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The detection of deleterious selection using ancestors inferred from a phylogenetic history

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

G. Brain Golding
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, York University, Downsview, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The widespread use of restriction endonucleases and DNA sequencing provides a wealth of data on the genetic structure of natural populations. From such data, detailed phylogenies can be constructed and qualitatively different kinds of mutational and substitutional processes can be studied. A neutral model can be constructed to describe the frequencies of sequence haplotypes according to the haplotypes from which they arose and the types of substitution that distinguish them. One feature of such a model is that it examines the ancestors of various sequences. Deleterious selection against a character has a distinct effect on descendant sequences. Individuals containing many deleterious characters leave few or no descendants because these individuals are quickly eliminated by selection. Hence, such a model lends itself to the study of deleterious selection. It is possible to determine if selection is required by searching for any set of mutation rates that can explain an observed set of data. Simulations of artificial populations without selection suggest that this method seldom indicates selection when none is present. Furthermore, recent recombination events between the sequences do not induce false indications of deleterious selection. The method may, however, require relatively large simple sizes in order to accurately reflect the true nature of populations. The method is often very conservative and may not indicate selection when it is, in fact, present.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

References

Aquadro, C. F., Deese, S. F., Bland, M. M., Langley, C. H. & Laurie-Ahlberg, C. C. (1986). Molecular population genetics of the alcohol dehydrogenase gene region of Drosophila melanogasier. Genetics (In the Press.)Google Scholar
Avise, J. C., Lansman, R. A. & Shade, R. O. (1979). The use of restriction endonucleases to measure mitochondrial DNA sequence relatedness in natural populations. I. Population structure and evolution in the genus Peromyscus. Genetics 92, 279295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ewens, W. J. (1979). Mathematical Population Genetics. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Felsenstein, J. (1982). Numerical methods for inferring evolutionary trees. Quarterly Review of Biology 57, 379404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fitch, W. M. (1971). Toward defining the course of evolution: minimum change for a specific tree topology. Systematic Zoology 20, 406416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginzburg, L. R., Bingham, P. M. & Yoo, S. (1984). On the theory of speciation induced by trancposable elements. Genetics 107, 331341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Golding, G. B., Aquadro, C. F. & Langley, C. H. (1986). Sequence evolution within populations under multiple types of mutation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 83, 427431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hartigan, J. A. (1973). Minimum mutation fits to a given tree. Biometrics 29, 5365.Google Scholar
Hudson, R. R. (1983). Testing the constant-rate neutral allele model with protein sequence data. Evolution 37, 203217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaplan, N., Darden, T. & Langley, C. H. (1985). Evolution and extinction of transposable elements in Mendelian populations. Genetics 109, 459480.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimura, M. (1983). The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, M. & Ohta, T. (1971). Theoretical Aspects of Population Genetics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Kreitman, M. (1983). Nucleotide polymorphism at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus of Drosophila melanogaster. Nature 304, 412417.Google Scholar
Langley, C. H., Brookfield, J. F. Y. & Kaplan, N. (1983). Transposable elements in Mendelian populations. Genetics 104, 457471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewontin, R. C. (1974). The Genetic Basis of Evolutionary Change. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lewontin, R. C. & Krakauer, J. (1973). Distribution of gene frequency as a test of the theory of the selective neutrality of polymorphism. Genetics 74, 179195.Google Scholar
Nei, M., Stephens, J. C. & Saitou, N. (1985). Methods for computing the standard errors of branching points in an evolutionary tree and their application to molecular data from humans and apes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2, 6685.Google Scholar
Nei, M., Fuerst, P. A. & Chakraborty, R. (1976). Testing the neutral mutation hypothesis by distribution of single locus heterozygosity. Nature 262, 491493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ohta, T. (1984). Population genetics of transposable elements. Journal of Mathematics Applied in Medicine and Biology 1, 1729.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watterson, G. A. (1978). The homozygosity test of neutrality. Genetics 88, 405417.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (1977). Evolution and the Generics of Populations, vol. III. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar