Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons02:54

Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

6.8K
Genome comparison is one of the excellent ways to interpret the evolutionary relationships between organisms. The basic principle of genome comparison is that if two species share a common feature, it is likely encoded by the DNA sequence conserved between both species. The advent of genome sequencing technologies in the late 20th century enabled scientists to understand the concept of conservation of domains between species and helped them to deduce evolutionary relationships across diverse...
6.8K
What is Population Genetics?01:25

What is Population Genetics?

64.2K
A population is composed of members of the same species that simultaneously live and interact in the same area. When individuals in a population breed, they pass down their genes to their offspring. Many of these genes are polymorphic, meaning that they occur in multiple variants. Such variations of a gene are referred to as alleles. The collective set of all the alleles within a population is known as the gene pool.
64.2K
Population Growth00:57

Population Growth

27.7K
Population size is dynamic, increasing with birth rates and immigration, and decreasing with death rates and emigration. In ideal conditions with unlimited resources, populations can increase exponentially, which plots as a J-shaped growth rate curve of population size against time. This type of curve is characteristic of newly-introduced invasive species, or populations that have suffered catastrophic declines and are rebounding.
27.7K
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?02:05

Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?

7.9K
The genomes of eukaryotes are punctuated by long stretches of sequence which do not code for proteins or RNAs. Although some of these regions do contain crucial regulatory sequences, the vast majority of this DNA serves no known function. Typically, these regions of the genome are the ones in which the fastest change, in evolutionary terms, is observed, because there is typically little to no selection pressure acting on these regions to preserve their sequences.
In contrast, regions which code...
7.9K
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?02:05

Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?

3.4K
3.4K
Genetic Drift03:33

Genetic Drift

42.8K
Natural selection—probably the most well-known evolutionary mechanism—increases the prevalence of traits that enhance survival and reproduction. However, evolution does not merely propagate favorable traits, nor does it always benefit populations.
42.8K

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Estimating bonobo (<i>Pan</i><i>paniscus</i>) and chimpanzee (<i>Pan</i><i>troglodytes</i>) evolutionary history from nucleotide site patterns.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2022
Same author

Neanderthal-Denisovan ancestors interbred with a distantly related hominin.

Science advances·2020
Same author

Reply to Mafessoni and Prüfer: Inferences with and without singleton site patterns.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2017
Same author

Early history of Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2017
Same author

Evolutionary history of Tibetans inferred from whole-genome sequencing.

PLoS genetics·2017
Same author

How population growth affects linkage disequilibrium.

Genetics·2014

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
15:00

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

4.2K

Legofit: estimating population history from genetic data.

Alan R Rogers1

  • 1Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Gardner Commons, Salt Lake City, USA. rogers@anthro.utah.edu.

BMC Bioinformatics
|October 30, 2019
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Legofit software overcomes biases in human admixture studies by simultaneously estimating population parameters. This new tool aids in understanding deep population history and admixture using genetic data.

Keywords:
Coalescent theoryEvolutionGeneticsPopulation history

More Related Videos

A Quantitative Fitness Analysis Workflow
11:39

A Quantitative Fitness Analysis Workflow

Published on: August 13, 2012

14.9K
A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts
12:00

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

Published on: February 5, 2014

36.0K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
15:00

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

4.2K
A Quantitative Fitness Analysis Workflow
11:39

A Quantitative Fitness Analysis Workflow

Published on: August 13, 2012

14.9K
A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts
12:00

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts

Published on: February 5, 2014

36.0K

Area of Science:

  • Population genetics
  • Human evolution
  • Bioinformatics

Background:

  • Current methods for archaic admixture analysis are biased by ancestral population size and separation times.
  • Statistical identifiability issues arise in genetic estimates of population histories, where different models can fit data equally well.
  • Existing software often lacks essential model selection and averaging capabilities for accurate population history inference.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce Legofit, a software package for simultaneous estimation of admixture parameters, ancestral population sizes, and separation times.
  • To address biases and statistical identifiability problems in population genetics research.
  • To provide a robust tool for studying the deep history of population size, subdivision, and admixture.

Main Methods:

  • Legofit enables simultaneous estimation of admixture parameters, ancestral population sizes, and separation times.
  • The software includes integrated tools for data manipulation, parameter estimation, and residual analysis.
  • Model selection and model averaging are incorporated to enhance the reliability of population history inferences.

Main Results:

  • Legofit facilitates the simultaneous estimation of key parameters in population genetics.
  • The software provides capabilities for model selection and averaging, addressing identifiability issues.
  • Legofit's approach is unaffected by recent population history, focusing on deep evolutionary timescales.

Conclusions:

  • Legofit is a novel software package for studying the history of subdivided populations using genetic data.
  • It offers an improvement over widely used statistical methods for population history analysis.
  • Legofit is applicable to any species with available DNA sequence data from multiple populations.