Intellectual Merit: This project will develop a population-genetic approach that uses genetic variation in the X and autosomal chromosomes to compare male and female migration rates. Dr. Rosenberg will devise a mathematical model of divergence followed by migration among populations, allowing for different amounts of male and female migration, as well as different male and female effective population sizes. The model will allow predictions about what patterns of variation across populations might be observed in different scenarios. Dr Rosenberg plans to apply this method to a large data set of 40 X-chromosomal and 783 autosomal markers in a global sample of 1048 individuals from 53 populations in order to determine the relative levels of male and female migration both worldwide as well as within individual continents.
In summary, the aims of the project are as follows:
1. Develop a population-genetic model that predicts levels of population divergence at autosomal and X- chromosomal loci as functions of male and female population sizes and migration rates. 2. Apply the model of Aim 1 to genome-wide autosomal and X-chromosomal markers in worldwide human populations to infer the relative levels of male and female migration.
Broader impact: Undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training will be central to this project. The research will also promote cross-disciplinary learning by involving cooperation among personnel with different academic backgrounds. Results will be disseminated via scientific publications and through presentations at national scientific meetings and departmental and cross-departmental retreats, journal clubs, and symposia. Dr. Rosenberg will ensure that each participant in the project will learn to organize and present scientific results to colleagues and students. Finally, the project is expected to be of broad interest both within science and in society in general, as it develops approaches to understanding the way basic evolutionary processes work, and it will illuminate important aspects of human evolutionary history.
