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Abstract
There has long been interest in understanding the genetic basis of human adaptation.
To what extent are phenotypic differences among human populations driven by natural
selection? With the recent arrival of large genome-wide data sets on human variation,
there is now unprecedented opportunity for progress on this type of question. Several
lines of evidence argue for an important role of positive selection in shaping human
variation and differences among populations. These include studies of comparative
morphology and physiology, as well as population genetic studies of candidate loci
and genome-wide data. However, the data also suggest that it is unusual for strong
selection to drive new mutations rapidly to fixation in particular populations (the
'hard sweep' model). We argue, instead, for alternatives to the hard sweep model:
in particular, polygenic adaptation could allow rapid adaptation while not producing
classical signatures of selective sweeps. We close by discussing some of the likely
opportunities for progress in the field.
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