Population and Quantitative Genetics

Life on earth shows immense variation, both in phenotypes and the underlying genotypes. Population and quantitative geneticists address questions such as where this variation comes from, how it is maintained, and how it can be used. This course introduces seminal models and concepts that deal with the dynamics of genetic variation, and applies these to natural and domesticated populations of living organisms, ranging from microbes to plants and animals. Understanding the dynamics of genetic variation is not only important for understanding a population’s past and predicting future evolutionary change, but also for using and exploiting this genetic variation in, for instance, plant and animal breeding.

Key topics include:

• genetic variation and the evolution of allele frequency;
• the effects of mutation, selection, drift, migration, inbreeding, and population structure on the evolution and genetic diversity of populations;
• multi-locus genetics and linkage disequilibrium;
• polygenic inheritance, heritability and selection on quantitative traits;
• genotype by environment interaction and environmental sensitivity;
• use of DNA sequence data to infer past population processes, such as selective sweeps, genetic bottlenecks, genetic differentiation and divergence dates;

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• Apply population genetic and quantitative genetic models to predict changes in genetic and phenotypic composition of populations under selection
• Explain how mating patterns, population size, and population structure affect genetic diversity
• Estimate the size of these effects for specific populations using genetic data
• Apply the concept heritability in the context of quantitative genetics
• Use multi-locus models to understand and predict the outcome of neutral and selective processes
• Apply levels-of-selection theory to explain the evolution of cooperation and conflict
• Infer consequences of population history for the current genetic characteristics of populations, and vice versa, to infer population history from current data

Assumed Knowledge:

• GEN11806 Fundamentals of Genetics (or equivalent course on the basics of genetics)