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Abstract
The field of molecular ecology has expanded enormously in the past two decades, largely because of the growing ease with which neutral molecular genetic data can be obtained from virtually any taxonomic group. However, there is also a growing awareness that neutral molecular data can provide only partial insight into parameters such as genetic diversity, local adaptation, evolutionary potential, effective population size, and taxonomic designations. Here we review some of the applications of neutral versus adaptive markers in molecular ecology, discuss some of the advantages that can be obtained by supplementing studies of molecular ecology with data from non-neutral molecular markers, and summarize new methods that are enabling researchers to generate data from genes that are under selection.
Highlights
The contributions that molecular biology has made to ecological research over the past two decades are phenomenal, and have created the relatively new field that is known as molecular ecology
The vast majority of studies in the field of molecular ecology have been based on neutral molecular markers, in other words genetic regions that do not directly influence fitness
These markers have given us invaluable insights into parameters such as genetic diversity within populations, genetic differentiation among populations, inbreeding, and demographic events; they provide limited insight into adaptive evolution and evolutionary potential
Summary
The contributions that molecular biology has made to ecological research over the past two decades are phenomenal, and have created the relatively new field that is known as molecular ecology. If a species is unable to disperse from its native range to other suitable habitats, and is incapable of a plastic response, its survival will require rapid adaptive change which is possible only if an adequate level of adaptive genetic variation has been maintained [19,20]; neutral and adaptive genetic diversity will likely have different impacts on long-term survival because only one (adaptive diversity) will allow a population to adapt to changing environmental conditions [21,22] Another reason for the growing interest in adaptive variation is more practical: we are increasingly able to develop and utilize molecular markers that allow us to characterize non-neutral genomic regions. This relatively recent ability to identify DNA regions and even genes under the influence of selection is rapidly closing the gap between molecular biologists who study mechanisms of gene transcription, translation, and regulation, and those biologists who are interested in addressing the role of selection in shaping biodiversity
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