Acceleration of genetic improvement of autogamous crops such as wheat and rice is necessary to increase cereal production in response to the global food crisis. Population and pedigree methods of breeding, which are based on inbred line selection, are used commonly in the genetic improvement of autogamous crops. These methods, however, produce a few novel combinations of genes in a breeding pop...

This paper addresses the issue of allowing a user more control over the outcomes of interactive evolution for computer animation, a variation on genetic algorithms. By using a point-for-point representation for genotype, the control both in selection and variation process is possible while the genotype represented by procedural rules in previous works allows it only in the selection. We experim...

Using a statistical-mechanical model of spins, the evolution of phenotype dynamics is studied. Configurations of spins and their interaction J represent the phenotype and genotype, respectively. The fitness for selection of J is given by the equilibrium spin configurations determined by a Hamiltonian with J under thermal noise. The genotype J evolves through mutational changes under selection p...

Little is known about coinfection among several hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes, although previous reports of recombination and genotype shifts indicate that this should occur. In the present study, we designed a method to identify mixtures of genotype A and another genotype, regardless of whether one of them predominates. Using this method, signs of genotypic coinfection were found in 20 (67...

Comparisons among patterns exhibited by functionally distinct genetic markers have been widely used to infer the impacts of demography and selection in structuring genetic variation in natural populations. However, such multilocus comparisons remain an indirect evaluation of selection at particular candidate loci; ideally, the identification of a candidate gene by comparative genetic methodolog...

Recent studies have revealed that linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns vary across the human genome with some regions of high LD interspersed by regions of low LD. A small fraction of SNPs (tag SNPs) is sufficient to capture most of the haplotype structure of the human genome. In this paper, we develop a method to partition haplotypes into blocks and to identify tag SNPs based on genotype data ...

The consequences of density dependent selection on genetically heterogeneous, diploid populations reproducing by self-mating or various parthenogenetic mechanisms is investigated. A logistic fitness function that depends upon both the genotype of an individual and the density of the population is used. Such a fitness function simultaneously determines the population size and the genotype freque...

Female response to male advertisement signals in lesser waxmoths showed substantial genetic variation, phenotypic plasticity across rearing environments, and genotype-by-environment interactions resulting in crossing reaction norms. These results represent two previously underemphasized means by which genetic variation may be maintained in sexually selected traits: genetic variation in female r...

Biodiversity currently faces unprecedented threats owing to species extinctions. Ecologically, compensatory dynamics can ensure stable community biomass following perturbation. However, whether there is a contribution of genetic diversity to community responses is an outstanding question. To date, the contribution of evolutionary processes through genotype shifts has not been assessed in natura...