Geneticization studies as a theoretical field: an uneven history and conceptual reconstruction

Genomic insights into natural selection in recent human history.

Evolution of Population Genetics Research: Insights into Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium and Mathematical Modeling

Population genetics has long relied on mathematical frameworks to interpret patterns of genetic variation and evolutionary processes within populations. Among these frameworks, the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is one of the most fundamental models for evaluating allele and genotype frequency distributions under theoretical population conditions. Despite its central role in population genetics, the development and research trends related to the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and mathematical modeling have not been systematically examined at the bibliometric level. This study aimed to analyze the evolution of scientific research on Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and mathematical modeling within population genetics using bibliometric approaches. Bibliographic data were retrieved from the Scopus database, resulting in a final dataset of 1,899 research articles. Publication trends, leading journals, productive authors, citation impact, international collaboration networks, thematic structures, and historiographic evolution were analyzed using bibliometric techniques, VOSviewer, and Bibliometrix in R Studio. The results indicate a sustained growth in publications, particularly since the early 2000s, reflecting the increasing role of quantitative and computational approaches in population genetics. Citation and thematic analyses reveal a substantial intellectual transition from classical equilibrium-based population genetics toward molecular, computational, and genomics-oriented research. Historiographic periodization further demonstrates that Hardy-Weinberg-based mathematical frameworks have continuously evolved alongside advances in high-throughput sequencing, statistical genetics, and large-scale genomic analysis. An important insight from this study is that modern genomics research has not replaced the classical Hardy-Weinberg principles, but has instead expanded their application through the integration of computational biology, bioinformatics, and genomics technologies. These findings highlight the continuing relevance of mathematical population genetic frameworks in contemporary genetic science and provide a clearer understanding of the state of the art and future direction of population genetics research.

The influence of incompatibilities and heterosis on hybrid population genetics

A long-standing question in evolutionary biology is: Under what circumstances can speciation occur despite hybridisation or because of hybridisation? Some models of hybrid incompatibilities predict that speciation can occur even in the presence of gene flow and strong selection against hybrids, an outcome also influenced by genetic contributions from parental species and genetic architecture. On the other hand, empirical work has shown that heterosis can counteract the effect of incompatibilities, hindering the speciation process. Theoretical models that simultaneously consider the positive and negative impacts of hybridisation on fitness remain scarce, raising questions about the effects of hybrid incompatibilities in the presence of heterosis. To address this question, we study how (Bateson)-Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities (BDMIs) interact with overdominant mutations in a two-locus population genetics model of an isolated hybrid population. We find that the strength of overdominance relative to incompatibilities determines the long-term genetic composition of the hybrid population. We show that high recombination exposes incompatibilities to selection and reduces the frequency of derived alleles in the hybrid population, limiting the strength of BDMIs that can be maintained by the balance with overdominance. We also show how neutral variation is affected by the strength of selection and the recombination rate between incompatible loci, generating patterns that include an increase in local variation resembling associative overdominance, or a reduction resembling background selection. Such variation of neutral variation, particularly at intermediate distances from BDMI loci, can generate peaks or troughs of diversity that are explained by the recombination rate between BDMI loci, and initial proportions of admixture between parental populations. Our work demonstrates how the genomic conflict caused by the interplay of overdominance and hybrid incompatibilities, recombination, and parental contributions, shape the genome of an isolated hybrid population.

Hereditarianism: a century of the science of inequality

Predictions on Trial Comparing Creation and Evolutionary Predictions Across Biology and Development

Evaluating genetic diversity differences within a likelihood framework

The study of genetic diversity has a rich history, as it serves as the foundation upon which evolutionary processes act. Numerous methods have been developed to quantify genetic variation within and among populations. While some methods focus solely on allele frequencies, others assess branching patterns within phylogenetic clades without considering genetic distances. Here we introduce the Proportional Diversity Likelihood Ratio Statistic (PLR), a novel method that integrates genetic distances with phylogenetic tree structure to provide a comprehensive measure of genetic diversity. This method evaluates the likelihood of observed genetic data under models with constrained and unconstrained diversity, offering a robust statistical framework for testing hypotheses about genetic differentiation. The PLR approach is broadly applicable, from assessing immune repertoire diversity, such as B-cell diversity before and after vaccination, to evaluating tumor genetic diversity before and after treatment. By combining genetic distance and tree topology, PLR enables deeper insights into evolutionary dynamics and population structure. We demonstrate the use of this approach on SARS-CoV-2 sequences from two different time frames and found that diversity maybe waning. Moreover, we applied PRL to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) data, revealing that with temporally order sequences from with treatment we do not see a significant drop in diversity.