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Detecting Polygenic Evolution: Problems, Pitfalls, and Promises.

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Author

Summary, in English

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.

Publishing year

2016-01-21

Language

English

Publication/Series

Trends in Genetics

Document type

Journal article review

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Status

Published

Project

  • Hybridisation in damselflies

Research group

  • Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1362-4555