Hitchhiking both ways: effect of two interfering selective sweeps on linked neutral variation

The neutral polymorphism pattern in the vicinity of a selective sweep can be altered by both stochastic and deterministic factors. Here we focus on the impact of another selective sweep in the region of influence of a first one. We study the signature left on neutral polymorphism by positive selection at two closely linked loci, when both beneficial mutations reach fixation. We show that, depending on the timing of selective sweeps and on their selection coefficients, the two hitchhiking effects can interfere with each other, leading to less reduction in heterozygosity than a single selective sweep of the same magnitude, and more importantly to an excess of intermediate frequency variants relative to neutrality under some parameter values. This pattern can be sustained and potentially alter the detection of positive selection, including by provoking spurious detection of balancing selection. In situations where positive selection is suspected a priori at several closely linked loci, the polymorphism pattern in the region may also be informative about their selective histories.

Key Words: Neutral molecular variation, genetic hitchhiking, multi-locus selection, selective sweeps, site frequency spectrum

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