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Related Concept Videos

Genetic Drift03:33

Genetic Drift

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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.
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Types of Selection01:46

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Natural selection influences the frequencies of particular alleles and phenotypes within populations in several different ways. Primarily, natural selection can be directional, stabilizing, or disruptive. Directional selection favors one extreme trait and shifts the population towards that phenotype while selecting against individuals displaying alternate traits. Stabilizing selection favors an intermediate trait with a narrow range of variation. Deviation from the optimal phenotype towards an...
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Hardy-Weinberg Principle01:49

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Diploid organisms have two alleles of each gene, one from each parent, in their somatic cells. Therefore, each individual contributes two alleles to the gene pool of the population. The gene pool of a population is the sum of every allele of all genes within that population and has some degree of variation. Genetic variation is typically expressed as a relative frequency, which is the percentage of the total population that has a given allele, genotype or phenotype.
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Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift01:09

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In a population that is not at Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, the frequency of alleles changes over time. Therefore, any deviations from the five conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium can alter the genetic variation of a given population. Conditions that change the genetic variability of a population include mutations, natural selection, non-random mating, gene flow, and genetic drift (small population size).
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What is Population Genetics?01:25

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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.
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Conservation of Small Populations02:04

Conservation of Small Populations

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Small population sizes put a species at extreme risk of extinction due to a lack of variation, and a consequent decrease in adaptability. This weakens the chances of survival under pressures such as climate change, competition from other species, or new diseases. Large populations are more likely to survive pressures such as these, as such populations are more likely to harbor individuals that have genetic variants that are adaptive under new stresses. Small populations are much less...
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Updated: Jul 8, 2025

Monitoring Spatial Segregation in Surface Colonizing Microbial Populations
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Selective sweep probabilities in spatially expanding populations.

Alexander Stein1, Ramanarayanan Kizhuttil2, Maciej Bak3

  • 1Centre for Cancer Genomics and Computational Biology, Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK and Department of Physics, ETH Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|December 11, 2023
PubMed
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Beneficial mutations can sweep through expanding populations, but this is rare in established tumors. New models predict sweep probabilities independent of mutation rate, offering insights into cancer evolution.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary biology
  • Mathematical modeling

Background:

  • Range expansions are crucial in shaping biological systems, from microbes to invasive species.
  • A key question is whether beneficial mutations can overcome clonal interference during expansion.
  • Existing models often simplify range expansions or ignore spatial structure.

Conclusions:

  • Selective sweeps are rare in established human tumors, explaining recent sequencing findings.
  • Model provides a general, pan-cancer explanation for the rarity of sweeps.
  • Insights are applicable to various biological systems undergoing range expansions.