@article{4314, abstract = {Polygenic variation can be maintained by a balance between mutation and stabilizing selection. When the alleles responsible for variation are rare, many classes of equilibria may be stable. The rate at which drift causes shifts between equilibria is investigated by integrating the gene frequency distribution W2N II (pq)4N mu-1. This integral can be found exactly, by numerical integration, or can be approximated by assuming that the full distribution of allele frequencies is approximately Gaussian. These methods are checked against simulations. Over a wide range of population sizes, drift will keep the population near an equilibrium which minimizes the genetic variance and the deviation from the selective optimum. Shifts between equilibria in this class occur at an appreciable rate if the product of population size and selection on each locus is small (Ns alpha 2 less than 10). The Gaussian approximation is accurate even when the underlying distribution is strongly skewed. Reproductive isolation evolves as populations shift to new combinations of alleles: however, this process is slow, approaching the neutral rate (approximately mu) in small populations.}, author = {Barton, Nicholas H}, issn = {1469-5073}, journal = {Genetical Research}, number = {1}, pages = {59 -- 78}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{The divergence of a polygenic system under stabilising selection, mutation and drift}}, doi = {10.1017/S0016672300028378}, volume = {54}, year = {1989}, } @article{3660, abstract = {The maintenance of polygenic variability by a balance between mutation and stabilizing selection has been analysed using two approximations: the ‘Gaussian’ and the ‘house of cards’. These lead to qualitatively different relationships between the equilibrium genetic variance and the parameters describing selection and mutation. Here we generalize these approximations to describe the dynamics of genetic means and variances under arbitrary patterns of selection and mutation. We incorporate genetic drift into the same mathematical framework. The effects of frequency-independent selection and genetic drift can be determined from the gradient of log mean fitness and a covariance matrix that depends on genotype frequencies. These equations describe an ‘adaptive landscape’, with a natural metric of genetic distance set by the covariance matrix. From this representation we can change coordinates to derive equations describing the dynamics of an additive polygenic character in terms of the moments (means, variances, …) of allelic effects at individual loci. Only under certain simplifying conditions, such as those derived from the Gaussian and house-of-cards approximations, do these general recursions lead to tractable equations for the first few phenotypic moments. The alternative approximations differ in the constraints they impose on the distributions of allelic effects at individual loci. The Gaussian-based prediction that evolution of the phenotypic mean does not change the genetic variance is shown to be a consequence of the assumption that the allelic distributions are never skewed. We present both analytical and numerical results delimiting the parameter values consistent with our approximations.}, author = {Barton, Nicholas H and Turelli, Michael}, issn = {1469-5073}, journal = {Genetical Research}, number = {2}, pages = {157 -- 174}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{Adaptive landscapes, genetic distance, and the evolution of quantitative characters}}, doi = {10.1017/S0016672300026951}, volume = {49}, year = {1987}, } @article{4322, abstract = {A method is developed for calculating the probability of establishment of an allele which is favoured in some places, but not others, in a large subdivided population. This method is quite general, and could be used to calculate the chance that any system which is linear near an absorbing boundary will move away from that boundary. The results are applied to a population distributed along one dimension. Only mutants which arise within a distance σ/ √2s of the region in which they are favoured stand an appreciable chance of establishment. The net chance of establishment of mutations distributed randomly across the habitat will be decreased by gene flow if selection against them is sufficiently strong. However, if the mutations are only weakly deleterious outside some limited region, gene flow may increase the net chance of establishment.}, author = {Barton, Nicholas H}, issn = {1469-5073}, journal = {Genetical Research}, number = {1}, pages = {35 -- 40}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{The probability of establishment of an advantageous mutation in a subdivided population}}, doi = {10.1017/S0016672300023314}, volume = {50}, year = {1987}, } @article{4324, abstract = {The maintenance of polygenic variation through a balance between mutation and stabilizing selection can be approximated in two ways. In the ‘Gaussian’ approximation, a normal distribution of allelic effects is assumed at each locus. In the ‘House of Cards’ approximation, the effect of new mutations is assumed to be large compared with the spread of the existing distribution. These approximations were developed to describe models where alleles may have a continuous range of effects. However, previous analyses of models with only two alleles have predicted an equilibrium variance equal to that given by the ‘House of Cards’ approximation. These analyses of biallelic models have assumed that, at equilibrium, the population mean is at the optimum. Here, it is shown that many stable equilibria may coexist, each giving a slight deviation from the optimum. Though the variance is given by the ‘House of Cards’ approximation when the mean is at the optimum, it increases towards a value of the same order as that given by the ‘Gaussian’ approximation when the mean deviates from the optimum. Thus, the equilibrium variance cannot be predicted by any simple model, but depends on the previous history of the population.}, author = {Barton, Nicholas H}, issn = {1469-5073}, journal = {Genetical Research}, number = {3}, pages = {209 -- 216}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{The maintenance of polygenic variation through a balance between mutation and stabilising selection}}, doi = {10.1017/S0016672300023156}, volume = {47}, year = {1986}, }