ArticlePLoS genetics2019
Polygenic adaptation: From sweeps to subtle frequency shifts.
Article in PLoS genetics, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers.
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85 citing papers in PubMed.
- Recombination accelerates adaptation across genetic architectures and demographic histories.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Polygenic and monogenic adaptation drive evolutionary rescue at different magnitudes of environmental change.The Journal of heredity · 2026Article
- Climate-Driven Niche Tracking and Genomic Resilience Shape Future Distribution of a Widespread Agricultural Weed.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Population and landscape genomics provide insights into the adaptive genetic variation and future climate-induced vulnerability of the endangered tree speciesHorticulture research · 2026Article
- Haplotype and diversity signatures of ultra-soft selective sweeps in HIV-1.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The Paraphyletic Origins of Genetic Resistance to Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle inPlant-environment interactions (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Soft Selective Sweeps Predominate in the Yellow Fever Mosquito Aedes aegypti.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Urbanisation Drives Microevolution in the Egyptian Fruit Bat (Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Evolutionary Dynamics of Gene Expression During Thermal Adaptation in Drosophila subobscura.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- The interaction of biological network topology and mutation effects in complex trait evolution.Frontiers in systems biology · 2026Review
- Museum Genomics Reveals Temporal Genetic Stasis and Global Genetic Diversity in Arabidopsis thaliana.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Genomic Landscape of High-Altitude Adaptation in East African Mountain Honey Bees (Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Signatures of soft selective sweeps predominate in the yellow fever mosquitobioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Genome-wide Parallelism Underlies Rapid Freshwater Adaptation Fueled by Standing Genetic Variation in a Wild Fish.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Longitudinal sequencing reveals polygenic and epistatic nature of genomic response to selection.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Reduced Parallel Gene Expression Evolution With Increasing Genetic Divergence-A Hallmark of Polygenic Adaptation.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Article
- Repeated global adaptation across plant species.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Striking Departures from Polygenic Architecture in the Tails of Complex Traits.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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3 authors.
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Abstract
Evolutionary theory has produced two conflicting paradigms for the adaptation of a polygenic trait. While population genetics views adaptation as a sequence of selective sweeps at single loci underlying the trait, quantitative genetics posits a collective response, where phenotypic adaptation results from subtle allele frequency shifts at many loci. Yet, a synthesis of these views is largely missing and the population genetic factors that favor each scenario are not well understood. Here, we study the architecture of adaptation of a binary polygenic trait (such as resistance) with negative epistasis among the loci of its basis. The genetic structure of this trait allows for a full range of potential architectures of adaptation, ranging from sweeps to small frequency shifts. By combining computer simulations and a newly devised analytical framework based on Yule branching processes, we gain a detailed understanding of the adaptation dynamics for this trait. Our key analytical result is an expression for the joint distribution of mutant alleles at the end of the adaptive phase. This distribution characterizes the polygenic pattern of adaptation at the underlying genotype when phenotypic adaptation has been accomplished. We find that a single compound parameter, the population-scaled background mutation rate Θbg, explains the main differences among these patterns. For a focal locus, Θbg measures the mutation rate at all redundant loci in its genetic background that offer alternative ways for adaptation. For adaptation starting from mutation-selection-drift balance, we observe different patterns in three parameter regions. Adaptation proceeds by sweeps for small Θbg ≲ 0.1, while small polygenic allele frequency shifts require large Θbg ≳ 100. In the large intermediate regime, we observe a heterogeneous pattern of partial sweeps at several interacting loci.
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