Title: Amplifiers of Selection: A glimpse into evolutionary graph theory

Abstract

The rate of evolution depends on the fixation probability of new mutants. Population structure affects the dynamics of spread, and thus the fixation probability. The talk will give a high-level overview of evolutionary graph theory, a mathematical model for the study of evolution on population structures represented as graphs. We will focus on amplifiers of selection, which are graphs that amplify the selective advantage of new mutants and thus accelerate evolution. We will characterize their impact on the fixation probability and fixation time of beneficial mutations, and touch on some open challenges both on their mathematical study and their biological realization.