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Updated: Jun 16, 2026

In Vivo Functional Study of Disease-associated Rare Human Variants Using Drosophila
Published on: August 20, 2019
Genome-wide variation in the human and fruitfly: a comparison
C F Aquadro1, V Bauer DuMont, F A Reed
1Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biotechnology Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA. cfa1@cornell.edu
Abstract:
Average levels of nucleotide diversity are ten-fold lower in humans than in the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. Despite this difference, apparently as a result of a lower population size, patterns of genomic diversity are strikingly similar in being correlated with local rates of recombination, and influenced by similar interactions between positive natural selection and recombination. Both species also show lower levels of variation on average in non-African compared to African populations, reflecting a similar evolutionary history and perhaps both natural selection and founder effects in new environments.
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