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NIMBioS Tutorial
The Search for Selection
Topic: The Search for Selection
Meeting dates: June 3-7, 2019
Location: NIMBioS at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Organizer: J. Bruce Walsh, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Univ. of Arizona
Description
Biologists are obsessed (indeed, seduced) by the search for signatures of selection in organismal features of interest, ranging from specific traits to genome-wide signatures. A vast number of approaches have been suggested in this search for selection, including genomic-based signatures of recent or ongoing selection, tests based on either excessive amounts or nonrandom patterns of divergence (in both fossil sequences and functional genomics data) and the more classical Lande-Arnold fitness estimates (direct association of phenotypic values with fitness estimates) and their modern extensions (such as aster models). Given the breadth of such searches, a large amount of machinery has been developed, but is rarely presented in a unified fashion. This tutorial presented an integrated overview of all these approaches, highlighting common themes and divergent assumptions.
The goal of this tutorial was to expose investigators from all branches of biology to this rich menagerie of tests. The material is applicable for population geneticists, genome biologists, evolutionary ecologists, paleontologists, functional morphologists, and just about any biologist who ponders on how to formally demonstrate that a feature (or features) of interest might have been shaped by selection.
This tutorial was a repeat of the NIMBioS tutorial offered June 18-22, 2018.
Intended Audience. The intended audience was advanced graduate students, postdocs, and faculty with an interest in searching for targets of selection, be they particular genomic sequences or particular traits. Given the breadth of this topic, the material would be of interest to individuals from functional genomics, population and evolutionary genetics, ecology, paleobiology, functional morphology, and statistics (as well as other fields). Background required: some basic introduction to population and/or quantitative genetics.
Agenda (PDF)
Descriptive Flyer (pdf)
The Search for Selection WordPress site
The tutorial was streamed live and recorded. A playlist of recorded presentations will be posted here soon.
Summary Report. TBA
A goal of NIMBioS is to enhance the cadre of researchers capable of interdisciplinary efforts across mathematics and biology. As part of this goal, NIMBioS is committed to promoting diversity in all its activities. Diversity is considered in all its aspects, social and scientific, including gender, ethnicity, scientific field, career stage, geography and type of home institution. Questions regarding diversity issues should be directed to diversity@nimbios.org. You can read more about our Diversity Plan on our NIMBioS Policies web page. The NIMBioS building is fully handicapped accessible.
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