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In Vitro Directed Evolution of a Restriction Endonuclease with More Stringent Specificity

In Vitro Directed Evolution of a Restriction Endonuclease with More Stringent Specificity

Published on: March 25, 2020

Classic selective sweeps were rare in recent human evolution.

Ryan D Hernandez¹, Joanna L Kelley, Eyal Elyashiv

¹Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|February 19, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Classic selective sweeps, a key mechanism of evolution, appear uncommon in human history. Analysis of 179 human genomes suggests this natural selection model was not dominant over the last 250,000 years.

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Area of Science:

Human Evolution
Population Genetics
Genomics

Background:

Identifying genetic adaptations in humans often relies on detecting "classic selective sweeps."
A classic selective sweep occurs when a beneficial mutation rapidly becomes fixed in a population.
The prevalence of this natural selection mechanism in human evolution remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the evidence for classic selective sweeps in human evolution.
To determine if classic sweeps were a dominant force shaping human adaptations over the past ~250,000 years.

Main Methods:

Analysis of resequencing data from 179 human genomes.
Examination of diversity levels in relation to genetic features like exons and conserved noncoding regions.
Comparison of diversity troughs around human-specific amino acid substitutions versus synonymous substitutions.

Main Results:

Diversity levels decreased near exons and conserved noncoding regions, as predicted by recurrent-sweep models.
The reduction in diversity around human-specific amino acid substitutions was not greater than around synonymous substitutions.
Alleles at amino acid and putative regulatory sites were not significantly enriched for high differentiation between populations.

Conclusions:

Classic selective sweeps were not a primary driver of human adaptation in the last ~250,000 years.
The findings challenge the assumption that classic sweeps are a dominant mode of evolutionary adaptation in humans.