Genetic drift at expanding frontiers promotes gene segregation

Details Genetic drift at expanding frontiers promotes gene segregation Genetic drift at expanding frontiers promotes gene segregation

2008-12-12

arxiv.org/abs/0812.2345v1

PNAS 2007 104:19926-19930

Biology

Quantitative Biology

Populations and Evolution

Please visit http://www.pnas.org/content/104/50/19926.abstract for published article

Scientific paper

10.1073/pnas.0710150104

Competition between random genetic drift and natural selection plays a central role in evolution: Whereas non-beneficial mutations often prevail in small populations by chance, mutations that sweep through large populations typically confer a selective advantage. Here, however, we observe chance effects during range expansions that dramatically alter the gene pool even in large microbial populations. Initially well-mixed populations of two fluorescently labeled strains of Escherichia coli develop well-defined, sector-like regions with fractal boundaries in expanding colonies. The formation of these regions is driven by random fluctuations that originate in a thin band of pioneers at the expanding frontier. A comparison of bacterial and yeast colonies (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) suggests that this large-scale genetic sectoring is a generic phenomenon that may provide a detectable footprint of past range expansions.

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