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Jay F. Storz Publications

Series

Natural selection

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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Genetics and Genomics

The Study Of Adaptation And Speciation In The Genomic Era, Jay F. Storz, Hopi E. Hoekstra Feb 2007

The Study Of Adaptation And Speciation In The Genomic Era, Jay F. Storz, Hopi E. Hoekstra

Jay F. Storz Publications

The availability of complete genome sequences and genetic linkage maps for a growing number of mammalian species is opening up exciting new opportunities for studies of evolutionary change in natural populations. For example, multilocus mapping approaches hold the promise of identifying the specific genetic changes that underlie ecological adaptation and reproductive isolation. The fact that many of the genomic resources that have been developed for Mus and Rattus are transferable to other muroid rodents means that roughly 25% of all mammalian species can now be considered ‘‘genome-enabled’’ study organisms to varying degrees. The transferability of genomic resources between model organisms …


Hemoglobin Function And Physiological Adaptation To Hypoxia In High-Altitude Mammals, Jay F. Storz Feb 2007

Hemoglobin Function And Physiological Adaptation To Hypoxia In High-Altitude Mammals, Jay F. Storz

Jay F. Storz Publications

Understanding the biochemical mechanisms that enable high-altitude animals to survive and function under conditions of hypoxic stress can provide important insights into the nature of physiological adaptation. Evidence from a number of high-altitude vertebrates indicates that modifications of hemoglobin function typically play a key role in mediating an adaptive response to chronic hypoxia. Because much is known about structure– function relationships of mammalian hemoglobins and their physiological role in oxygen transport, the study of hemoglobin variation in high-altitude mammals holds much promise for understanding the nature of adaptation to hypoxia from the level of blood biochemistry to the level of …


Using Genome Scans Of Dna Polymorphism To Infer Adaptive Population Divergence, Jay F. Storz Mar 2005

Using Genome Scans Of Dna Polymorphism To Infer Adaptive Population Divergence, Jay F. Storz

Jay F. Storz Publications

Elucidating the genetic basis of adaptive population divergence is a goal of central importance in evolutionary biology. In principle, it should be possible to identify chromosomal regions involved in adaptive divergence by screening genome-wide patterns of DNA polymorphism to detect the locus-specific signature of positive directional selection. In the case of spatially separated populations that inhabit different environments or sympatric populations that exploit different ecological niches, it is possible to identify loci that underlie divergently selected traits by comparing relative levels of differentiation among large numbers of unlinked markers. In this review I first address the question of whether diversifying …


Genome Scans Of Dna Variability In Humans Reveal Evidence For Selective Sweeps Outside Of Africa, Jay F. Storz, Bret A. Payseur, Michael W. Nachman Jun 2004

Genome Scans Of Dna Variability In Humans Reveal Evidence For Selective Sweeps Outside Of Africa, Jay F. Storz, Bret A. Payseur, Michael W. Nachman

Jay F. Storz Publications

The last 50,000–150,000 years of human history have been characterized by rapid demographic expansions and the colonization of novel environments outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Mass migrations outside the ancestral species range likely entailed many new selection pressures, suggesting that genetic adaptation to local environmental conditions may have been more prevalent in colonizing populations outside of sub-Saharan Africa. Here we report a test of this hypothesis using genome-wide patterns of DNA polymorphism. We conducted a multilocus scan of microsatellite variability to identify regions of the human genome that may have been subject to continent-specific hitchhiking events. Using published polymorphism data for …