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David Comas

Bio: David Comas is an academic researcher from Pompeu Fabra University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Population & Haplogroup. The author has an hindex of 60, co-authored 193 publications receiving 14208 citations. Previous affiliations of David Comas include Spanish National Research Council & University of Barcelona.


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Journal ArticleDOI
Swapan Mallick1, Swapan Mallick2, Swapan Mallick3, Heng Li3, Mark Lipson2, Iain Mathieson2, Melissa Gymrek, Fernando Racimo4, Mengyao Zhao3, Mengyao Zhao2, Mengyao Zhao1, Niru Chennagiri2, Niru Chennagiri3, Niru Chennagiri1, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Susanne Nordenfelt3, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Arti Tandon3, Arti Tandon2, Pontus Skoglund2, Pontus Skoglund3, Iosif Lazaridis2, Iosif Lazaridis3, Sriram Sankararaman5, Sriram Sankararaman3, Sriram Sankararaman2, Qiaomei Fu6, Qiaomei Fu3, Qiaomei Fu2, Nadin Rohland3, Nadin Rohland2, Gabriel Renaud7, Yaniv Erlich8, Thomas Willems9, Carla Gallo10, Jeffrey P. Spence4, Yun S. Song11, Yun S. Song4, Giovanni Poletti10, Francois Balloux12, George van Driem13, Peter de Knijff14, Irene Gallego Romero15, Aashish R. Jha16, Doron M. Behar17, Claudio M. Bravi18, Cristian Capelli19, Tor Hervig20, Andrés Moreno-Estrada, Olga L. Posukh21, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky22, Sena Karachanak-Yankova23, Hovhannes Sahakyan24, Hovhannes Sahakyan17, Draga Toncheva23, Levon Yepiskoposyan24, Chris Tyler-Smith25, Yali Xue25, M. Syafiq Abdullah26, Andres Ruiz-Linares12, Cynthia M. Beall27, Anna Di Rienzo16, Choongwon Jeong16, Elena B. Starikovskaya, Ene Metspalu17, Ene Metspalu28, Jüri Parik17, Richard Villems17, Richard Villems28, Richard Villems29, Brenna M. Henn30, Ugur Hodoglugil31, Robert W. Mahley32, Antti Sajantila33, George Stamatoyannopoulos34, Joseph Wee, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Sergey Litvinov35, Sergey Litvinov17, George Ayodo36, David Comas37, Michael F. Hammer38, Toomas Kivisild17, Toomas Kivisild39, William Klitz, Cheryl A. Winkler40, Damian Labuda41, Michael J. Bamshad34, Lynn B. Jorde42, Sarah A. Tishkoff11, W. Scott Watkins42, Mait Metspalu17, Stanislav Dryomov, Rem I. Sukernik43, Lalji Singh5, Lalji Singh44, Kumarasamy Thangaraj44, Svante Pääbo7, Janet Kelso7, Nick Patterson3, David Reich2, David Reich1, David Reich3 
13 Oct 2016-Nature
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans; instead, their modern human ancestry is consistent with coming from the same source as that of other non-Africans.
Abstract: Here we report the Simons Genome Diversity Project data set: high quality genomes from 300 individuals from 142 diverse populations. These genomes include at least 5.8 million base pairs that are not present in the human reference genome. Our analysis reveals key features of the landscape of human genome variation, including that the rate of accumulation of mutations has accelerated by about 5% in non-Africans compared to Africans since divergence. We show that the ancestors of some pairs of present-day human populations were substantially separated by 100,000 years ago, well before the archaeologically attested onset of behavioural modernity. We also demonstrate that indigenous Australians, New Guineans and Andamanese do not derive substantial ancestry from an early dispersal of modern humans; instead, their modern human ancestry is consistent with coming from the same source as that of other non-Africans.

1,133 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Iosif Lazaridis1, Iosif Lazaridis2, Nick Patterson1, Alissa Mittnik3, Gabriel Renaud4, Swapan Mallick2, Swapan Mallick1, Karola Kirsanow5, Peter H. Sudmant6, Joshua G. Schraiber6, Joshua G. Schraiber7, Sergi Castellano4, Mark Lipson8, Bonnie Berger1, Bonnie Berger8, Christos Economou9, Ruth Bollongino5, Qiaomei Fu4, Kirsten I. Bos3, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Heng Li2, Heng Li1, Cesare de Filippo4, Kay Prüfer4, Susanna Sawyer4, Cosimo Posth3, Wolfgang Haak10, Fredrik Hallgren11, Elin Fornander11, Nadin Rohland2, Nadin Rohland1, Dominique Delsate12, Michael Francken3, Jean-Michel Guinet12, Joachim Wahl, George Ayodo, Hamza A. Babiker13, Hamza A. Babiker14, Graciela Bailliet, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky, Ramiro Barrantes15, Gabriel Bedoya16, Haim Ben-Ami17, Judit Bene18, Fouad Berrada19, Claudio M. Bravi, Francesca Brisighelli20, George B.J. Busby21, Francesco Calì, Mikhail Churnosov22, David E. C. Cole23, Daniel Corach24, Larissa Damba, George van Driem25, Stanislav Dryomov26, Jean-Michel Dugoujon27, Sardana A. Fedorova28, Irene Gallego Romero29, Marina Gubina, Michael F. Hammer30, Brenna M. Henn31, Tor Hervig32, Ugur Hodoglugil33, Aashish R. Jha29, Sena Karachanak-Yankova34, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Rick A. Kittles30, Toomas Kivisild36, William Klitz7, Vaidutis Kučinskas37, Alena Kushniarevich38, Leila Laredj39, Sergey Litvinov38, Theologos Loukidis40, Theologos Loukidis41, Robert W. Mahley42, Béla Melegh18, Ene Metspalu43, Julio Molina, Joanna L. Mountain, Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi44, Desislava Nesheva34, Thomas B. Nyambo45, Ludmila P. Osipova, Jüri Parik43, Fedor Platonov28, Olga L. Posukh, Valentino Romano46, Francisco Rothhammer47, Francisco Rothhammer48, Igor Rudan14, Ruslan Ruizbakiev49, Hovhannes Sahakyan38, Hovhannes Sahakyan50, Antti Sajantila51, Antonio Salas52, Elena B. Starikovskaya26, Ayele Tarekegn, Draga Toncheva34, Shahlo Turdikulova49, Ingrida Uktveryte37, Olga Utevska53, René Vasquez54, Mercedes Villena54, Mikhail Voevoda55, Cheryl A. Winkler56, Levon Yepiskoposyan50, Pierre Zalloua57, Pierre Zalloua2, Tatijana Zemunik58, Alan Cooper10, Cristian Capelli21, Mark G. Thomas41, Andres Ruiz-Linares41, Sarah A. Tishkoff59, Lalji Singh60, Kumarasamy Thangaraj61, Richard Villems62, Richard Villems38, Richard Villems43, David Comas63, Rem I. Sukernik26, Mait Metspalu38, Matthias Meyer4, Evan E. Eichler6, Joachim Burger5, Montgomery Slatkin7, Svante Pääbo4, Janet Kelso4, David Reich64, David Reich2, David Reich1, Johannes Krause3, Johannes Krause4 
Broad Institute1, Harvard University2, University of Tübingen3, Max Planck Society4, University of Mainz5, University of Washington6, University of California, Berkeley7, Massachusetts Institute of Technology8, Stockholm University9, University of Adelaide10, The Heritage Foundation11, National Museum of Natural History12, Sultan Qaboos University13, University of Edinburgh14, University of Costa Rica15, University of Antioquia16, Rambam Health Care Campus17, University of Pécs18, Al Akhawayn University19, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart20, University of Oxford21, Belgorod State University22, University of Toronto23, University of Buenos Aires24, University of Bern25, Russian Academy of Sciences26, Paul Sabatier University27, North-Eastern Federal University28, University of Chicago29, University of Arizona30, Stony Brook University31, University of Bergen32, Illumina33, Sofia Medical University34, Bashkir State University35, University of Cambridge36, Vilnius University37, Estonian Biocentre38, University of Strasbourg39, Amgen40, University College London41, Gladstone Institutes42, University of Tartu43, University of Oulu44, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences45, University of Palermo46, University of Chile47, University of Tarapacá48, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan49, Armenian National Academy of Sciences50, University of North Texas51, University of Santiago de Compostela52, University of Kharkiv53, Higher University of San Andrés54, Novosibirsk State University55, Leidos56, Lebanese American University57, University of Split58, University of Pennsylvania59, Banaras Hindu University60, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology61, Estonian Academy of Sciences62, Pompeu Fabra University63, Howard Hughes Medical Institute64
18 Sep 2014-Nature
TL;DR: It is shown that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west Europeanhunter-gatherer related ancestry.
Abstract: We sequenced the genomes of a ∼7,000-year-old farmer from Germany and eight ∼8,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analysed these and other ancient genomes with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry. We model these populations' deep relationships and show that early European farmers had ∼44% ancestry from a 'basal Eurasian' population that split before the diversification of other non-African lineages.

1,077 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Javier Prado-Martinez1, Peter H. Sudmant2, Jeffrey M. Kidd3, Jeffrey M. Kidd4, Heng Li5, Joanna L. Kelley4, Belen Lorente-Galdos1, Krishna R. Veeramah6, August E. Woerner6, Timothy D. O’Connor2, Gabriel Santpere1, Alex Cagan7, Christoph Theunert7, Ferran Casals1, Hafid Laayouni1, Kasper Munch8, Asger Hobolth8, Anders E. Halager8, Maika Malig2, Jessica Hernandez-Rodriguez1, Irene Hernando-Herraez1, Kay Prüfer7, Marc Pybus1, Laurel Johnstone6, Michael Lachmann7, Can Alkan9, Dorina Twigg3, Natalia Petit1, Carl Baker2, Fereydoun Hormozdiari2, Marcos Fernandez-Callejo1, Marc Dabad1, Michael L. Wilson10, Laurie S. Stevison11, Cristina Camprubí12, Tiago Carvalho1, Aurora Ruiz-Herrera12, Laura Vives2, Marta Melé1, Teresa Abello, Ivanela Kondova13, Ronald E. Bontrop13, Anne E. Pusey14, Felix Lankester15, John Kiyang, Richard A. Bergl, Elizabeth V. Lonsdorf16, Simon Myers17, Mario Ventura18, Pascal Gagneux19, David Comas1, Hans R. Siegismund20, Julie Blanc, Lidia Agueda-Calpena, Marta Gut, Lucinda Fulton21, Sarah A. Tishkoff22, James C. Mullikin23, Richard K. Wilson21, Ivo Gut, Mary Katherine Gonder24, Oliver A. Ryder, Beatrice H. Hahn22, Arcadi Navarro1, Arcadi Navarro25, Joshua M. Akey2, Jaume Bertranpetit1, David Reich5, Thomas Mailund8, Mikkel H. Schierup8, Christina Hvilsom26, Christina Hvilsom20, Aida M. Andrés7, Jeffrey D. Wall11, Carlos Bustamante4, Michael F. Hammer6, Evan E. Eichler27, Evan E. Eichler2, Tomas Marques-Bonet1, Tomas Marques-Bonet25 
25 Jul 2013-Nature
TL;DR: This comprehensive catalogue of great ape genome diversity provides a framework for understanding evolution and a resource for more effective management of wild and captive great ape populations.
Abstract: Most great ape genetic variation remains uncharacterized; however, its study is critical for understanding population history, recombination, selection and susceptibility to disease. Here we sequence to high coverage a total of 79 wild- and captive-born individuals representing all six great ape species and seven subspecies and report 88.8 million single nucleotide polymorphisms. Our analysis provides support for genetically distinct populations within each species, signals of gene flow, and the split of common chimpanzees into two distinct groups: Nigeria-Cameroon/western and central/eastern populations. We find extensive inbreeding in almost all wild populations, with eastern gorillas being the most extreme. Inferred effective population sizes have varied radically over time in different lineages and this appears to have a profound effect on the genetic diversity at, or close to, genes in almost all species. We discover and assign 1,982 loss-of-function variants throughout the human and great ape lineages, determining that the rate of gene loss has not been different in the human branch compared to other internal branches in the great ape phylogeny. This comprehensive catalogue of great ape genome diversity provides a framework for understanding evolution and a resource for more effective management of wild and captive great ape populations.

807 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
25 Aug 2016-Nature
TL;DR: This paper reported genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers, showing that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a 'Basal Eurasian' lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other.
Abstract: We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter–gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter–gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter–gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.

695 citations

Iosif Lazaridis1, Iosif Lazaridis2, Nick Patterson1, Alissa Mittnik3, Gabriel Renaud4, Swapan Mallick2, Swapan Mallick1, Karola Kirsanow5, Peter H. Sudmant6, Joshua G. Schraiber7, Joshua G. Schraiber6, Sergi Castellano4, Mark Lipson8, Bonnie Berger1, Bonnie Berger8, Christos Economou9, Ruth Bollongino5, Qiaomei Fu4, Kirsten I. Bos3, Susanne Nordenfelt1, Susanne Nordenfelt2, Heng Li2, Heng Li1, Cesare de Filippo4, Kay Prüfer4, Susanna Sawyer4, Cosimo Posth3, Wolfgang Haak10, Fredrik Hallgren11, Elin Fornander11, Nadin Rohland2, Nadin Rohland1, Dominique Delsate12, Michael Francken3, Jean-Michel Guinet12, Joachim Wahl, George Ayodo, Hamza A. Babiker13, Hamza A. Babiker14, Graciela Bailliet, Elena Balanovska, Oleg Balanovsky, Ramiro Barrantes15, Gabriel Bedoya16, Haim Ben-Ami17, Judit Bene18, Fouad Berrada19, Claudio M. Bravi, Francesca Brisighelli20, George B.J. Busby21, Francesco Calì, Mikhail Churnosov22, David E. C. Cole23, Daniel Corach24, Larissa Damba, George van Driem25, Stanislav Dryomov26, Jean-Michel Dugoujon27, Sardana A. Fedorova28, Irene Gallego Romero29, Marina Gubina, Michael F. Hammer30, Brenna M. Henn31, Tor Hervig32, Ugur Hodoglugil33, Aashish R. Jha29, Sena Karachanak-Yankova34, Rita Khusainova35, Elza Khusnutdinova35, Rick A. Kittles30, Toomas Kivisild36, William Klitz7, Vaidutis Kučinskas37, Alena Kushniarevich38, Leila Laredj39, Sergey Litvinov38, Theologos Loukidis40, Theologos Loukidis41, Robert W. Mahley42, Béla Melegh18, Ene Metspalu43, Julio Molina, Joanna L. Mountain, Klemetti Näkkäläjärvi44, Desislava Nesheva34, Thomas B. Nyambo45, Ludmila P. Osipova, Jüri Parik43, Fedor Platonov28, Olga L. Posukh, Valentino Romano46, Francisco Rothhammer47, Francisco Rothhammer48, Igor Rudan14, Ruslan Ruizbakiev49, Hovhannes Sahakyan50, Hovhannes Sahakyan38, Antti Sajantila51, Antonio Salas52, Elena B. Starikovskaya26, Ayele Tarekegn, Draga Toncheva34, Shahlo Turdikulova49, Ingrida Uktveryte37, Olga Utevska53, René Vasquez54, Mercedes Villena54, Mikhail Voevoda55, Cheryl A. Winkler56, Levon Yepiskoposyan50, Pierre Zalloua2, Pierre Zalloua57, Tatijana Zemunik58, Alan Cooper10, Cristian Capelli21, Mark G. Thomas40, Andres Ruiz-Linares40, Sarah A. Tishkoff59, Lalji Singh60, Kumarasamy Thangaraj61, Richard Villems62, Richard Villems38, Richard Villems43, David Comas63, Rem I. Sukernik26, Mait Metspalu38, Matthias Meyer4, Evan E. Eichler6, Joachim Burger5, Montgomery Slatkin7, Svante Pääbo4, Janet Kelso4, David Reich64, David Reich2, David Reich1, Johannes Krause4, Johannes Krause3 
Broad Institute1, Harvard University2, University of Tübingen3, Max Planck Society4, University of Mainz5, University of Washington6, University of California, Berkeley7, Massachusetts Institute of Technology8, Stockholm University9, University of Adelaide10, The Heritage Foundation11, National Museum of Natural History12, Sultan Qaboos University13, University of Edinburgh14, University of Costa Rica15, University of Antioquia16, Rambam Health Care Campus17, University of Pécs18, Al Akhawayn University19, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart20, University of Oxford21, Belgorod State University22, University of Toronto23, University of Buenos Aires24, University of Bern25, Russian Academy of Sciences26, Paul Sabatier University27, North-Eastern Federal University28, University of Chicago29, University of Arizona30, Stony Brook University31, University of Bergen32, Illumina33, Sofia Medical University34, Bashkir State University35, University of Cambridge36, Vilnius University37, Estonian Biocentre38, University of Strasbourg39, University College London40, Amgen41, Gladstone Institutes42, University of Tartu43, University of Oulu44, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences45, University of Palermo46, University of Tarapacá47, University of Chile48, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan49, Armenian National Academy of Sciences50, University of North Texas51, University of Santiago de Compostela52, University of Kharkiv53, Higher University of San Andrés54, Novosibirsk State University55, Leidos56, Lebanese American University57, University of Split58, University of Pennsylvania59, Banaras Hindu University60, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology61, Estonian Academy of Sciences62, Pompeu Fabra University63, Howard Hughes Medical Institute64
01 Sep 2014
TL;DR: The authors showed that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunters-gatherer related ancestry.
Abstract: We sequenced the genomes of a ∼7,000-year-old farmer from Germany and eight ∼8,000-year-old hunter-gatherers from Luxembourg and Sweden. We analysed these and other ancient genomes with 2,345 contemporary humans to show that most present-day Europeans derive from at least three highly differentiated populations: west European hunter-gatherers, who contributed ancestry to all Europeans but not to Near Easterners; ancient north Eurasians related to Upper Palaeolithic Siberians, who contributed to both Europeans and Near Easterners; and early European farmers, who were mainly of Near Eastern origin but also harboured west European hunter-gatherer related ancestry. We model these populations' deep relationships and show that early European farmers had ∼44% ancestry from a 'basal Eurasian' population that split before the diversification of other non-African lineages.

442 citations


Cited by
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Journal Article
Fumio Tajima1
30 Oct 1989-Genomics
TL;DR: It is suggested that the natural selection against large insertion/deletion is so weak that a large amount of variation is maintained in a population.

11,521 citations

01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The modern applied statistics with s is universally compatible with any devices to read, and is available in the digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly.
Abstract: Thank you very much for downloading modern applied statistics with s. As you may know, people have search hundreds times for their favorite readings like this modern applied statistics with s, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they cope with some harmful virus inside their laptop. modern applied statistics with s is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library saves in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the modern applied statistics with s is universally compatible with any devices to read.

5,249 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Mendelian randomization provides new opportunities to test causality and demonstrates how investment in the human genome project may contribute to understanding and preventing the adverse effects on human health of modifiable exposures.
Abstract: Associations between modifiable exposures and disease seen in observational epidemiology are sometimes confounded and thus misleading, despite our best efforts to improve the design and analysis of studies. Mendelian randomization-the random assortment of genes from parents to offspring that occurs during gamete formation and conception-provides one method for assessing the causal nature of some environmental exposures. The association between a disease and a polymorphism that mimics the biological link between a proposed exposure and disease is not generally susceptible to the reverse causation or confounding that may distort interpretations of conventional observational studies. Several examples where the phenotypic effects of polymorphisms are well documented provide encouraging evidence of the explanatory power of Mendelian randomization and are described. The limitations of the approach include confounding by polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium with the polymorphism under study, that polymorphisms may have several phenotypic effects associated with disease, the lack of suitable polymorphisms for studying modifiable exposures of interest, and canalization-the buffering of the effects of genetic variation during development. Nevertheless, Mendelian randomization provides new opportunities to test causality and demonstrates how investment in the human genome project may contribute to understanding and preventing the adverse effects on human health of modifiable exposures.

3,646 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
07 May 2010-Science
TL;DR: The genomic data suggest that Neandertals mixed with modern human ancestors some 120,000 years ago, leaving traces of Ne andertal DNA in contemporary humans, suggesting that gene flow from Neand Bertals into the ancestors of non-Africans occurred before the divergence of Eurasian groups from each other.
Abstract: Neandertals, the closest evolutionary relatives of present-day humans, lived in large parts of Europe and western Asia before disappearing 30,000 years ago. We present a draft sequence of the Neandertal genome composed of more than 4 billion nucleotides from three individuals. Comparisons of the Neandertal genome to the genomes of five present-day humans from different parts of the world identify a number of genomic regions that may have been affected by positive selection in ancestral modern humans, including genes involved in metabolism and in cognitive and skeletal development. We show that Neandertals shared more genetic variants with present-day humans in Eurasia than with present-day humans in sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that gene flow from Neandertals into the ancestors of non-Africans occurred before the divergence of Eurasian groups from each other.

3,575 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Dec 2002-Genetics
TL;DR: A key advantage of the method is that the nuisance parameters are automatically integrated out in the simulation step, so that the large numbers of nuisance parameters that arise in population genetics problems can be handled without difficulty.
Abstract: We propose a new method for approximate Bayesian statistical inference on the basis of summary statistics. The method is suited to complex problems that arise in population genetics, extending ideas developed in this setting by earlier authors. Properties of the posterior distribution of a parameter, such as its mean or density curve, are approximated without explicit likelihood calculations. This is achieved by fitting a local-linear regression of simulated parameter values on simulated summary statistics, and then substituting the observed summary statistics into the regression equation. The method combines many of the advantages of Bayesian statistical inference with the computational efficiency of methods based on summary statistics. A key advantage of the method is that the nuisance parameters are automatically integrated out in the simulation step, so that the large numbers of nuisance parameters that arise in population genetics problems can be handled without difficulty. Simulation results indicate computational and statistical efficiency that compares favorably with those of alternative methods previously proposed in the literature. We also compare the relative efficiency of inferences obtained using methods based on summary statistics with those obtained directly from the data using MCMC.

2,734 citations