Genetic hitchhiking

Genetic Hitchhiking

Genetic hitchhiking, also known as selective sweep or genetic draft, is a evolutionary process where an allele increases in frequency not because of the survival and reproductive advantage it gives to the organism, but because it is near another gene that does confer such an advantage.

Pronunciation

Genetic: /dʒɪˈnɛtɪk/ Hitchhiking: /ˈhɪtʃˌhaɪkɪŋ/

Etymology

The term "genetic hitchhiking" was first used in 1974 by John Maynard Smith and John Haigh in their paper "The hitch-hiking effect of a favourable gene". The term "hitchhiking" is used to describe the process where certain genes "ride along" with others, increasing in frequency due to their proximity to beneficial genes.

Related Terms

• Genetic drift
• Natural selection
• Genetic linkage
• Genetic variation
• Population genetics

See Also

• Genetic recombination
• Genome-wide association study
• Hardy-Weinberg principle
• Molecular evolution

References

• Smith, J. M., & Haigh, J. (1974). The hitch-hiking effect of a favourable gene. Genetical Research, 23(1), 23-35.

External links

• Medical encyclopedia article on Genetic hitchhiking
• Wikipedia's article - Genetic hitchhiking

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