Elissa Chesler
Genetic Structure of Reference Populations
Genetic reference populations are panels of isogenic lines that are produced and distributed as panels of clones. These resources are becoming an increasingly important resource for genetic analysis, particularly for the simultaneous integration of genetic variation with sequelae from molecular to whole organism variation. The widespread deployment of these populations motivates a systematic comparison of the structure of each, and its impact on the utility of the population for genetic mapping and genetic correlation analyses. Further, the construction of these populations is in itself an interesting biological experiment in the interactions of diverse genomes and the resulting random and non-random selection processes manifest after generations of outcrossing and inbreeding. Our project focuses on the evaluation and comparison of genetic reference populations based on the development of linkage disequilibrium and segregation distortion observed systematically through combinatorial analysis of high density genotype data. Consistently observed regions of linkage disequilibrium have been found across populations, suggesting a history of biological selection.
