Genetic hitchhiking versus background selection: the controversy and its implications

Genetic hitchhiking versus background selection: the controversy and its implications.

The controversy on the relative importance of background selection (BGS; against deleterious mutations) and genetic hitchhiking (associated with positive directional selection) in explaining patterns of nucleotide variation in natural populations stimulated research activities for almost a decade. Despite efforts from many theorists and empiricists, fundamental questions are still open, in part...

Distinguishing the hitchhiking and background selection models.

A simple method to distinguish hitchhiking and background selection is proposed. It is based on the observation that these models make different predictions about the average level of nucleotide diversity in regions of low recombination. The method is applied to data from Drosophila melanogaster and two highly selfing tomato species.

On the relative roles of background selection and genetic hitchhiking in shaping human cytomegalovirus genetic diversity.

A central focus of population genetics has been examining the contribution of selective and neutral processes in shaping patterns of intraspecies diversity. In terms of selection specifically, surveys of higher organisms have shown considerable variation in the relative contributions of background selection and genetic hitchhiking in shaping the distribution of polymorphisms, although these ana...

Distinguishing the Hitchhiking and Background Selection Models in Tomatoes

Joint effects of genetic hitchhiking and background selection on neutral variation.

Due to relatively high rates of strongly selected deleterious mutations, directional selection on favorable alleles (causing hitchhiking effects on linked neutral polymorphisms) is expected to occur while a deleterious mutation-selection balance is present in a population. We analyze this interaction of directional selection and background selection and study their combined effects on neutral v...