Coalescent
Coalescent
Coalescent (pronunciation: koh-uh-les-uhnt) is a term used in genetics and population biology to describe the process by which, looking back through time, the genealogy of any pair of homologous genes traces back to a single common ancestor.
Etymology
The term 'coalescent' comes from the English word 'coalesce', which means to come together to form one mass or whole. In the context of genetics, it refers to the way in which genealogies of individuals in a population 'coalesce' as you trace back in time.
Related Terms
- Genealogy: The study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages.
- Homologous genes: Genes that are descended from a common ancestor.
- Population biology: A study of populations of organisms, especially the regulation of population size, life history traits such as clutch size, and extinction.
- Genetics: The study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in living organisms.
Usage
In population genetics, the coalescent theory is a retrospective model of population genetics. It traces all alleles of a gene in a sample from the population back to a single ancestral copy that is the most recent common ancestor. Therefore, coalescent is a key concept in understanding the genetic diversity and evolution of species.
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Coalescent
- Wikipedia's article - Coalescent
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