TALK BY JASON SCHWEINSBERG, CORNELL
"Using random partitions to approximate the effect of beneficial
mutations on the genealogy of a population"
Abstract: When a beneficial mutation occurs in a population, the new,
favored allele may spread to the entire population. This process is known
as a selective sweep. Suppose we sample n individuals at the end of a
selective sweep. If we focus on a site on the chromosome that is close to
the location of the beneficial mutation, then many of the individuals will
likely be descended from the individual that had the beneficial mutation
at the beginning of the selective sweep, while others will be descended
from a different individual because of recombination between the two sites
on the chromosome. We will describe a random partition of {1,...,n} which
gives a very accurate approximation to the effect of the selective sweep
on the genealogy of the n sampled individuals.