A Primer of Population Genetics and Genomics

A Primer of Population Genetics and Genomics has been completely revised and updated to provide a concise but comprehensive introduction to the basic concepts of population genetics and genomics.

Recent textbooks have tended to focus on such specialized topics as the coalescent, molecular evolution, human population genetics, or genomics. This primer bucks that trend by encouraging a broader familiarity with, and understanding of, population genetics and genomics as a whole. The overview ranges from mating systems through the causes of evolution, molecular population genetics, and the genomics of complex traits. Interwoven are discussions of ancient DNA, gene drive, landscape genetics, identifying risk factors for complex diseases, the genomics of adaptation and speciation, and other active areas of current research. The principles are illuminated by numerous examples from a wide variety of animals, plants, microbes, and human populations. The approach also emphasizes learning by doing, which in this case means solving numerical or conceptual problems. The rationale behind this is that the use of concepts in problem-solving lead to deeper understanding and longer knowledge retention.

This accessible, introductory textbook is aimed principally at students of various levels and abilities (from senior undergraduate to postgraduate) as well as practising scientists in the fields of population genetics, ecology, evolutionary biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, biostatistics, physics, and mathematics.

Daniel L. Hartl, Higgins Professor of Biology, Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard University, USA

Daniel L. Hartl is Higgins Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His laboratory studies population genetics and genomics as well as molecular evolution. He has been awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal of the Genetics Society of America and is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences USA as well as the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His PhD is from the University of Wisconsin, and he did postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of the University of Minnesota, Purdue University, and Washington University Medical School in St. Louis. In addition to 450 scientific articles, Hartl has authored or coauthored 35 books.