Definition
Population genetics involves the study of allele frequencies within a population and the attempt to explain the given distributions through the forces of natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and population expansion, contraction and migration.
Basic Characteristics
Variability and Selection
The initial requirement for any population genetics based study is the ability to characterize and quantify the level of genetic diversity either within a population or between populations. The characterization of diversity was initially performed at a phenotypic level, since this was the level at which genetic variation could be easily observed. The discovery of micro- and mini‐satellites, coupled with advances with DNA sequencing has allowed variability to be assayed at the genotypic level. The progression of these technologies to a high throughput easily attainable technology has allowed ever increasing amounts of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)and micro‐satellites to be...
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References
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© 2008 Springer-Verlag
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Polley, S., Pearce, R. (2008). Population Genetics and Human Health . In: Kirch, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Public Health. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5614-7_2689
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5614-7_2689
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-5613-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-5614-7
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