Journal
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
Volume 34, Issue 8, Pages 1863-1877Publisher
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msx154
Keywords
adaptation; selective sweeps; soft sweeps; machine learning; population genomics
Funding
- NIH [K99HG008696, R01GM078204]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The degree to which adaptation in recent human evolution shapes genetic variation remains controversial. This is in part due to the limited evidence in humans for classic hard selective sweeps, wherein a novel beneficial mutation rapidly sweeps through a population to fixation. However, positive selection may often proceed via soft sweeps acting on mutations already present within a population. Here, we examine recent positive selection across six human populations using a powerful machine learning approach that is sensitive to both hard and soft sweeps. We found evidence that soft sweeps are widespread and account for the vast majority of recent human adaptation. Surprisingly, our results also suggest that linked positive selection affects patterns of variation across much of the genome, and may increase the frequencies of deleterious mutations. Our results also reveal insights into the role of sexual selection, cancer risk, and central nervous system development in recent human evolution.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available