Tag Archives: gene flow

Sweeps and Demographic Inference

Population genetics presents us with numerous conundrums – several of which have to do with how the same genomic disposition can be “reached” over evolutionary time with multiple alternate demographic or selective processes. I have discussed several of these issues … Continue reading

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The Truth

Spoiler Alert: I’ve taken plenty of care to try and not spill the beans on any plotlines, but you have been forewarned that there may be some aspects of the science that’s discussed on the show that I attempt to … Continue reading

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The Neanderthal admixture plot thickens…

Previous studies of archaic admixture from Altai Neanderthals and Denisovans into modern humans outside of Africa have put forth several lines of evidence for gene flow from Neanderthals into common ancestors of Eurasian populations, from Denisovans into ancestors of modern … Continue reading

Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, mutation, natural history, next generation sequencing, Paleogenomics, population genetics, speciation | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Genomics of Hybridization – Part 1

In a series of articles, I will discuss recent advances in hybridization genomics – the fundamentals of adaptive introgression, “islands of speciation”, differential gene flow, and linked selection have been discussed in my previous posts (here, here, and also at … Continue reading

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Long distance dispersal of modern humans outside of Africa

Long distance dispersal (LDD) has long known to be an artifact of human migrations out of Africa. However, the effects of LDD on modern human diversity, and models of LDD in human colonization are yet to be characterized. Using an … Continue reading

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On false positives in Isolation with Migration analyses

The IM suite of tools (IM, IMa, IMa2, IMa2p, etc.) are used widely by molecular ecologists at large for the analyses and estimation of ancestral demography under an Isolation with Migration (IM) model. However, these tools come with fundamental assumptions … Continue reading

Posted in evolution, genomics, howto, IMa2, methods, Molecular Ecology views, natural history, population genetics, software, theory | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On background selection in Ficedula flycatchers

Several recent studies (including those I wrote about last week) use genome-wide scans of differentiation to understand evolutionary mechanisms behind high or low divergence. However, there has been contentious support for and against these differentiation islands being due to differential … Continue reading

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Introgression history in sticklebacks and oaks

Speciation theory has many monikers for differential gene flow – migration, introgression, admixture, hybridization, secondary contact. As a homogenizing process, gene flow at large acts to reduce differentiation between populations post-divergence. However, selection and demography affect the rates of gene … Continue reading

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Small mammalian genomics of adaptation

While large mammals have had their day on our blog, two recent studies on small mammals reveal the genetics of size evolution in island mice, and differential introgression of mitochondrial and nuclear genomes in chipmunks – steps towards understanding the … Continue reading

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Societal constructs, and Genetic diversity

While we grapple with numerous discoveries of variation in genomic diversity in humans, interest has subsequently risen in understanding their causes/results. Two recent papers describe experiments to determine (a) the effects of marital rules (who gets to marry whom) on … Continue reading

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