The Fate of Mutations Surfing on the Wave of a Range Expansion
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Many species, including humans, have dramatically expanded their range in the past, and such range expansions had certainly an impact on their genetic diversity. For example, mutations arising in populations at the edge of a range expansion can sometimes surf on the wave of advance and thus reach a larger spatial distribution and a much higher frequency than would be expected in stationary populations. We study here this surfing phenomenon in more detail, by performing extensive computer simulations under a two-dimensional stepping-stone model. We find that the probability of survival of a new mutation depends to a large degree on its proximity to the edge of the wave. Demographic factors such as deme size, migration rate, and local growth rate also influence the fate of these new mutations. We also find that the final spatial and frequency distributions depend on the local deme size of a subdivided population. This latter result is discussed in the light of human expansions in Europe as it should allow one to distinguish between mutations having spread with Paleolithic or Neolithic expansions. By favoring the spread of new mutations, a consequence of the surfing phenomenon is to increase the rate of evolution of spatially expanding populations.
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As hunter-gatherers spread over Europe, their Neanderthal introgression levels increased because of a combination of stochastic demographic and migratory processes related to gene dilution and gene surfing, which explain the spatial gradients of Neanderthal ancestry observed in hunter-gatherers.
“According to the expansion hypothesis (19), as HGs spread over Europe, their NE introgression levels increased because of a combination of stochastic demographic and migratory processes related to gene dilution (20, 31, 39) and gene surfing (22, 23), which explain the spatial gradients of NE ancestry observed in HGs (Fig. 5).”
From Past human expansions shaped the spatial pattern of Neanderthal ancestry (2023) · cites this paper as [23]
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Klopfstein, S., Currat, M., & Excoffier, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Bern (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Klopfstein, Seraina
- Venue
- Molecular Biology and Evolution
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2005-11-09
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 482-490
- ISSN
- 0737-4038 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-1719
- OpenAlex
- W2149354969
- Cited by
- 641
- References
- 39
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 45 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 40 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 36 · 2013: 52 · 2012: 37
- FWCI
- 6.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Molecular Biology and Evolution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
- Keywords
- range expansion, deme size, migration rate, human population expansion, Neolithic expansion, stepping-stone model, genetic diversity
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Computer Simulation, Demography, Europe, Genetics, Population, Geography, Humans, Models, Genetic, Mutation, Population Density, Software
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