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Patterns of multiallelic polymorphism maintained by migration and selection
1Department of Ecology and Evolution, The University of Chicago, 1101 East 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
Theoretical Population Biology
|September 19, 2001
Summary
Migration and viability selection jointly drive evolution at multiallelic loci. Migration can lead to global allele fixation, even overriding local equilibria, impacting genetic diversity across colonies.
Area of Science:
- Population Genetics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Investigates evolution in subdivided populations with multiple alleles.
- Considers discrete, nonoverlapping generations and panmictic colonies.
- Examines the interplay of migration and viability selection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze multiallelic evolution under combined migration and viability selection.
- To identify conditions for globally attracting equilibria.
- To explore the impact of migration on allele fixation and diversity.
Main Methods:
- Mathematical modeling of population genetics.
- Analysis of a multiallelic locus with an arbitrary, time-independent, and ergodic forward migration matrix.
- Study of the Levene model with specific dominance scenarios.
Main Results:
- Presents examples of globally attracting multiallelic equilibria.
- Demonstrates migration-induced global fixation, overriding local equilibria.
- Shows migration can fix alleles otherwise eliminated locally.
- Suggests allele number at equilibrium is limited by colony number without dominance.
Conclusions:
- Migration significantly alters evolutionary trajectories in multiallelic systems.
- Under specific conditions (no dominance or existing internal equilibrium), a globally attracting equilibrium with migration is guaranteed.
- Internal equilibria, when they exist, act as global attractors in the presence of migration.
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