Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster E7
Höfundar / Authors: Katrín Halldórsdóttir
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland
Kynnir / Presenter: Katrín Halldórsdóttir
Introduction: The question about the mode of reproduction of an organism is essentially an ecological question. However, for an organism like the Atlantic cod, a highly fecund organism, it’s mode of reproduction cannot be determined using field research. Instead, a genomics approach is called for. We hypothesize that Atlantic cod reproduces by sweepstakes. To understand this mode of reproduction we turn to genomics. But what theoretical models describe its reproduction?
One of three main objectives in our grant of excellence project is to ask if genomic
models of high fecundity and sweepstakes reproduction (HFSR) with or without
population growth gives a better fit to genomic data of codfish than genomic models of
population growth without HFSR. This talk is about the first results toward answering
this question.
Methods: In population genetics, genetic data and statistical models are applied to answer ecological questions of this kind. Here we estimate parameters in two reproductive models, the Fisher-Wright and the Schweinsberg’s model of reproduction by estimating parameters using coalescent methods. Does the Atlantic cod fit the classical Fisher-Wright model of reproduction, the Fisher-Wright model which includes population growth, the beta coalescent, or even the Bolthausen-Sniztman coalescent?
Results: New results based on whole-genome sequencing of 79 individuals of cod from
South-East Iceland will be discussed and how filtering of the data, sequence coverage
and different genotype likelihood affect the results of the estimation of the parameter α
in the various coalescent models.