Evolutionary dynamics of a polygenic system under stabilizing and directional natural selection

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K06815
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 45040:Ecology and environment-related
• Research Institution: Fukuoka Women's University
• Principal Investigator: TAKAHASHI RYOU 福岡女子大学, 国際文理学部, 学術研究員 (50342811)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 多遺伝子選択 / 大自由度系シミュレーション / 連鎖不平衡

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Evolutionary dynamics of a polygenic system under stabilizing and directional natural selection were studied using a series of mathematical models that simulate temporal changes in the genetic composition of a panmictic population. A comparison was made between an approximate model that assumes an independent inheritance of each locus in the system versus a model that does not make such an assumption. While strict linkage equilibria are imposed in the former, the latter explicitly models linkage and recombination among loci along a chromosome. We investigated the validity and utility of the approximate theory, and found that while the computational burden was greatly reduced by the independence assumption, the outcome was not much different between the two models in the case of weak selection.

Free Research Field

集団生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

生物多様性の根源となる遺伝変異は突然変異によって供給されるが，では，生物の進化的な変化に寄与する突然変異とは，一体どのようなものだろうか．それは，毎世代低頻度で生じる新生突然変異の中にみつかるのだろうか，それとも，既に生物集団中に一定量存在する多様性の中にみつかるのだろうか．この疑問に対する答えを与えることは，生物進化の基本原理を明らかにするだけでなく，ヒト遺伝性疾患の成り立ちを理解し，その診断法や治療法を開発する上で有用な情報をもたらしうるものであり，或いは，農作物等の有用生物をよりよいものへと改変したり，新たな機能変異を探索して遺伝資源を拡充したりする上でも役立つことが期待される．