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Review
. 2012:46:635-49.
doi: 10.1146/annurev-genet-110711-155557. Epub 2012 Sep 17.

Paleopopulation genetics

Jeffrey D Wall  1 , Montgomery Slatkin
Affiliations
Review

Paleopopulation genetics

Jeffrey D Wall et al. Annu Rev Genet. 2012.

Abstract

Paleopopulation genetics is a new field that focuses on the population genetics of extinct groups and ancestral populations (i.e., populations ancestral to extant groups). With recent advances in DNA sequencing technologies, we now have unprecedented ability to directly assay genetic variation from fossils. This allows us to address issues, such as past population structure, changes in population size, and evolutionary relationships between taxa, at a much greater resolution than can traditional population genetics studies. In this review, we discuss recent developments in this emerging field as well as prospects for the future.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of a simple isolation model. An ancestral panmictic population of size Na splits at time T into two panmictic daughter populations that are completely isolated from each other. The distribution of coalescence times between sequences sampled from the separate populations depends on both T and Na.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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