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Population genetics: An introduction for physicists

Andrea Iglesias-Ramas, Samuele Pio Lipani, Rosalind J. Allen

SciPost Phys. Lect. Notes 89 (2024) · published 10 December 2024

Part of the 2023-07: Theoretical Biological Physics 2023 Collection in the Les Houches Summer School Lecture Notes Series.

Abstract

Population genetics lies at the heart of evolutionary theory. This topic forms part of many biological science curricula but is rarely taught to physics students. Since physicists are becoming increasingly interested in biological evolution, we aim to provide a brief introduction to population genetics, written for physicists. We start with two background chapters: chapter 1 provides a brief historical introduction to the topic, while chapter 2 provides some essential biological background. We begin our main content with chapter 3 which discusses the key concepts behind Darwinian natural selection and Mendelian inheritance. Chapter 4 covers the basics of how variation is maintained in populations, while chapter 5 discusses mutation and selection. In chapter 6 we discuss stochastic effects in population genetics using the Wright-Fisher model as our example, and finally we offer concluding thoughts and references to textbooks in chapter 7.


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