May 21, 2025

12:00pm – 1:00pm Terasaki Life Science Building 1100 (TLSB 1100)

Dr. Bernard Kim
Princeton University

" Clade-Scale Population Genomic Data Reveal Extensive Heterogeneity in Natural Selection Across the Drosophilid Protein-Coding Genome "

What are the evolutionary forces shaping the genome, and what is their relationship to biological function? Population genomic data and methods are essential to answering this question, but the sparsity of polymorphisms (e.g., 1-3% of neutral sites in Drosophila vary) drastically limits their resolution. Therefore, we cannot precisely measure the functional and selective heterogeneity in the genome, heterogeneity which exists across individual sites. We are addressing this challenge through a novel “evolutionary replication” approach that utilizes polymorphism data from many closely related species. This approach is being developed with the model insect family Drosophilidae (fruit/vinegar flies), with the goal of sequencing genomes, populations, and more for every possible species of the 4,500+ in the group. I will present some of our first results from the current dataset of population genomic data of 150 species, which already powers the resolution of evolutionary forces from the level of individual genes to just a few amino acids. Ever-growing clade-level genomic datasets, and the fine-mapping of natural selection they enable, hold great promise for connecting molecular evolution and population genomics to biological function, ecological variables, and macroevolutionary patterns of species diversity

Host: Nandita Garud & Kirk Lohmueller