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NOAH ROSENBERG |
Mathematical Models of Chromosome Evolution |
Keywords: chromosome evolution, karyotypes, Markov chain Monte Carlo,
Metropolis algorithm, stepwise mutation model, polyploidy, genome duplication, phylogenomics |
Chromosomal mutation is an important process in evolution
and speciation, but the rates of different types of chromosomal mutations
such as fissions, fusions, and genome duplications have been difficult
to assess. I propose to develop a general Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm
to estimate rates of different types of chromosomal changes. This algorithm
will be capable of analyzing data as minimal as chromosome numbers of species
within a clade of interest, but it will be able to make more accurate inference
from genome-wide marker data. Output will be in the form of posterior distributions
of mutation rates and inferred ancestral genomic configurations. The algorithm
will be tested on groups for which data are mature (e.g., small mammals)
to verify its accuracy, and it will then be used for phylogenetic predictions
in less well-studied taxa. This project has applications to the determination
of phylogenomic histories, to the improvement of phylogenetic methods,
and to the assessment of the importance of macromutation in speciation.
When applied to tumor cells, the algorithm will also be useful for estimating
aneuploidy rates associated with certain cancers. |
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