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Background selection and FST : Consequences for detecting local adaptation
Remi Matthey-Doret1, Michael C Whitlock1
1Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Molecular Ecology
|July 27, 2019
Summary
Background selection, a process reducing genetic diversity, does not significantly impact FST outlier scans for local adaptation. This finding suggests that identifying adaptive variants is still feasible despite background selection effects.
Area of Science:
- Population Genetics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Genomics
Background:
- Background selection, driven by deleterious mutations, reduces genetic diversity at linked sites.
- Concerns exist that background selection intensity variations may skew genome-wide FST scans, potentially masking local adaptation signals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of varying background selection intensity on population differentiation statistics.
- To assess the reliability of FST outlier scans for detecting local adaptation in the presence of background selection.
Main Methods:
- Realistic simulations of DNA sequences were conducted.
- Recombination maps from humans and sticklebacks were utilized.
- The effects on FST and dXY were analyzed in sexual, outcrossing species with gene flow.
Main Results:
- The FST estimator by Weir and Cockerham (1984) showed insensitivity to locus-specific background selection intensity.
- dXY exhibited a negative correlation with background selection intensity.
- Background selection had minimal impact on the false-positive rates in FST outlier studies.
Conclusions:
- Background selection is unlikely to significantly interfere with genome scans aimed at identifying local adaptation.
- FST outlier methods remain a viable approach for detecting adaptive variants in populations with gene flow, even with background selection.
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