Research

Local adaptation 

Local adaptation is the process with which populations try to fit better into their environment. A first step in this direction is the acquisition of genes that provide a fitness benefit. This is strongly influenced by the genetic architecture.
One way how this could work is to change the number of chromosomes in order to maximize the potential to get a beneficial mutation. This is investigated in a current project with Yoav Ram.

Another potential mechanism for local adaptation is to exploit the existence of a beneficial allele. A new mutation could build on a connection through physical linkage or genetic interaction and benefit from it.

Pontz M. and Bürger R. 2021. The effects of epistasis and linkage on the invasion of locally beneficial mutations and the evolution of genomic islands. bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.04.30.442097

Two-locus models

Many classical population genetic models are two-locus models. They can be used to study the effect of linkage and epistasis and other forces that are absent in single-locus models. However, they are already very complex that makes an analytical treatment very difficult. With the help of simplifying assumptions, interesting results on the long term behaviour can be found. 

Pontz M. and Feldman M.W. (2020): Loss of genetic variation in the two-locus multiallelic haploid model. Theor. Popul. Biol. 136, 12-21. 1

Pontz M., Hofbauer J. and Bürger R. (2018): Evolutionary dynamics in the two-locus two-allele model with weak selection. J. Math. Biol. 76, 151-203. 


2021,  Martin Pontz