Construct · 1 fields · 3 citations

genetic drift: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

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geneticdrift1 CONSTRUCTGenetic driftWRIGHT · RANDOM DRIFT

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Population genetics

The random change in allele frequencies across generations

The concept was given its foundational quantitative form by Sewall Wright in his 1931 paper Evolution in Mendelian populations, with a parallel treatment by Ronald Fisher in 1930, and it names the change in the frequency of gene variants (alleles) in a population from one generation to the next that arises purely from the random sampling of which gametes happen to form the next generation, rather than from natural selection favouring some variants over others. Because each generation is drawn from a finite pool of parents, the mix of alleles passed on fluctuates by chance alone, and over time an allele can drift to become more common or disappear entirely without conferring any survival advantage. The effect is strongest in small populations, where the sampling swings are proportionally larger, and it weakens as population size grows. Motoo Kimura's 1968 neutral theory of molecular evolution later placed drift at the centre of how variation accumulates at the level of DNA, arguing that most genetic change is selectively neutral and governed by drift. What makes genetic drift a landmark of population genetics is that it identifies chance, distinct from selection, mutation, and migration, as one of the basic forces that shape the genetic makeup of populations.[1][2][3]

Unit
A population-level evolutionary force expressed as change in allele frequency across generations
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Estimated from allele-frequency variance across generations or populations and modelled through the effective population size (Ne)

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Nearby constructs

allele3 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, three constructsselection4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, four constructsfitness4 fields · 5 citationsjingle · one word, four constructs

References

  1. Wright, S. (1931). Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics, 16(2), 97–159. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/16.2.97
  2. Fisher, R. A. (1930). The genetical theory of natural selection. Clarendon Press. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.27468
  3. Kimura, M. (1968). Evolutionary rate at the molecular level. Nature, 217(5129), 624–626. https://doi.org/10.1038/217624a0

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