A new test suggests hundreds of amino acid polymorphisms in humans are subject to balancing selection

Soni, Vivak, Vos, Michiel and Eyre-Walker, Adam (2022) A new test suggests hundreds of amino acid polymorphisms in humans are subject to balancing selection. PLoS Biology, 20 (6). e3001645 1-27. ISSN 1544-9173

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Abstract

The role that balancing selection plays in the maintenance of genetic diversity remains unresolved. Here, we introduce a new test, based on the McDonald–Kreitman test, in which the number of polymorphisms that are shared between populations is contrasted to those that are private at selected and neutral sites. We show that this simple test is robust to a variety of demographic changes, and that it can also give a direct estimate of the number of shared polymorphisms that are directly maintained by balancing selection. We apply our method to population genomic data from humans and provide some evidence that hundreds of nonsynonymous polymorphisms are subject to balancing selection.

Item Type: Article
Keywords: Amino Acids, Humans, Polymorphism, Genetic Selection, Genetic
Schools and Departments: School of Life Sciences > Evolution, Behaviour and Environment
SWORD Depositor: Mx Elements Account
Depositing User: Mx Elements Account
Date Deposited: 28 Jul 2022 13:15
Last Modified: 28 Jul 2022 13:30
URI: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/107163

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