Detecting Polygenic Evolution: Problems, Pitfalls, and Promises.
(2016) In Trends in Genetics- Abstract
- Unraveling the genetic basis of organismal form and function remains one of the major goals of evolutionary biology. Theory has long supported a model of polygenic evolution in which quantitative traits are underpinned by many genes of small effect, but empirical methods have lacked the power to detect causative loci when effect sizes are small or moderate. We (i) review traditional approaches used for identifying the molecular basis of phenotypic traits, to highlight the inherent problems and pitfalls that bias them towards the detection of large-effect loci. We then (ii) outline the promises of recent statistical frameworks to detect polygenic signatures of trait evolution, and discuss some of the first studies in evolutionary biology... (More)
- Unraveling the genetic basis of organismal form and function remains one of the major goals of evolutionary biology. Theory has long supported a model of polygenic evolution in which quantitative traits are underpinned by many genes of small effect, but empirical methods have lacked the power to detect causative loci when effect sizes are small or moderate. We (i) review traditional approaches used for identifying the molecular basis of phenotypic traits, to highlight the inherent problems and pitfalls that bias them towards the detection of large-effect loci. We then (ii) outline the promises of recent statistical frameworks to detect polygenic signatures of trait evolution, and discuss some of the first studies in evolutionary biology employing these approaches. Lastly, we (iii) outline future directions and point to areas that still need development. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/8573830
- author
- Wellenreuther, Maren LU and Hansson, Bengt LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2016-01-21
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Trends in Genetics
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:26806794
- scopus:84958748303
- wos:000371843000003
- pmid:26806794
- ISSN
- 1362-4555
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.tig.2015.12.004
- project
- Hybridisation in damselflies
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 699ec2bb-afbc-4787-93fc-a1541ea09bfc (old id 8573830)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:52:12
- date last changed
- 2024-05-05 21:07:47
@article{699ec2bb-afbc-4787-93fc-a1541ea09bfc, abstract = {{Unraveling the genetic basis of organismal form and function remains one of the major goals of evolutionary biology. Theory has long supported a model of polygenic evolution in which quantitative traits are underpinned by many genes of small effect, but empirical methods have lacked the power to detect causative loci when effect sizes are small or moderate. We (i) review traditional approaches used for identifying the molecular basis of phenotypic traits, to highlight the inherent problems and pitfalls that bias them towards the detection of large-effect loci. We then (ii) outline the promises of recent statistical frameworks to detect polygenic signatures of trait evolution, and discuss some of the first studies in evolutionary biology employing these approaches. Lastly, we (iii) outline future directions and point to areas that still need development.}}, author = {{Wellenreuther, Maren and Hansson, Bengt}}, issn = {{1362-4555}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{01}}, publisher = {{Elsevier}}, series = {{Trends in Genetics}}, title = {{Detecting Polygenic Evolution: Problems, Pitfalls, and Promises.}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2015.12.004}}, doi = {{10.1016/j.tig.2015.12.004}}, year = {{2016}}, }