| Physicists have recently come to appreciate path integral and Fokker-Planck-like formulations of genetic drift, mutation and selection in population genetics by pioneering researchers such as M. Kimura. Here we address related problems involving the population waves that evidently played a crucial role in the evolutionary history of many species. Genetic footprints of pioneer species are still recognizable today, and neutral genetic markers can be used to infer information about growth, ancestral population size, colonization pathways, etc. Neutral mutations optimally positioned on a the front of a growing population wave can increase their abundance via a "surfing" phenomenon. Experimental and theoretical studies of this effect will be presented, using bacteria and yeast as model systems. |
|