Genomic effects of nucleotide substitutions in Drosophila simulans

Abstract

Selective fixation of beneficial mutations reduces levels of linked, neutral variation. The magnitude of this "hitchhiking effect" is determined by the strength of selection and the recombination rate between selected and neutral sites. Thus, depending on the values of these parameters and the frequency with which directional selection occurs, the genomic scale over which directional selection reduces levels of linked variation may vary widely. Here we present a permutation-based analysis of nucleotide polymorphisms and fixations in Drosophila simulans. We show evidence of pervasive small-scale hitchhiking effects in this lineage. Furthermore, our results reveal that different types of fixations are associated with different levels of linked variation.