Student Authors
Jessica L. CrisciUMass Chan Affiliations
Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative BiologyDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2012-05-15Keywords
ancient hominin genomesdemography
genome scans
hitchhiking
human adaptation
human evolution
selective sweeps
soft sweeps
Evolution
Genomics
Population Biology
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The study of human evolution is of interest to many both for the potential it has to improve our understanding of heritable disease, as well as for the possibility of illuminating evidence for adaptations that may help to tell the story of our origin. But uncovering evidence of positive selection at the genetic level has been a challenge. It remains unclear how much of the human genome has been affected by positive selection, what the main mechanism of selection is, and what types of patterns we should be looking for to identify adaptations. With whole-genome sequencing and high performance computation, we are quickly shifting to a field in which data is no longer a limiting factor. Here we will discuss the progress that has been made towards these ends, explore the best examples of human-specific adaptations to date, and discuss the implications of these findings within the context of classical population genetic theory.Source
Crisci, J. L. and Jensen, J. D. 2012. Evolution of the Human Genome: Adaptive Changes. eLS. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0023987
DOI
10.1002/9780470015902.a0023987Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/33306ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/9780470015902.a0023987