Université de Fribourg

Inference of natural selection from ancient DNA

Dehasque, Marianne ; Ávila‐Arcos, María C. ; Díez‐del‐Molino, David ; Fumagalli, Matteo ; Guschanski, Katerina ; Lorenzen, Eline D. ; Malaspinas, Anna‐Sapfo ; Marques‐Bonet, Tomas ; Martin, Michael D. ; Murray, Gemma G. R. ; Papadopulos, Alexander S. T. ; Therkildsen, Nina Overgaard ; Wegmann, Daniel ; Dalén, Love ; Foote, Andrew D.

In: Evolution Letters, 2020, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 94–108

Evolutionary processes, including selection, can be indirectly inferred based on patterns of genomic variation among contemporary populations or species. However, this often requires unrealistic assumptions of ancestral demography and selective regimes. Sequencing ancient DNA from temporally spaced samples can inform about past selection processes, as time series data allow direct...