Joint Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute / Institute for Life Sciences Seminar Event

It is now becoming feasible to sequence the genomes of many individuals. The pattern of variation within a sample of individuals is most easily described in terms of its genealogical and mutational history. In the absence of natural selection the shape of the genealogy varies across the genome in a predictable way that depends on the demographic history of the population. Selection yields genealogies and hence patterns of genetic variation that depart from expectations based on the demographic history. The genealogical, mutational, and demographic histories are unknown latent variables of very high dimension. The problem can be cast in a Bayesian framework but is intractable without approximation. This talk discusses various approaches that have been used for demographic inference, and then describes a methodology for detecting local adaptation using approximate Bayesian computation (ABC).

** A drinks reception will be held after the seminar **