Fun in facets: A flexible new tool for population genomics in R

Abstract

The landscape of analytical tools for population genomics continues to evolve. However, these tools are scattered across programming languages, making them largely inaccessible for many biologists. In this issue of Molecular Ecology Resources, Hemstrom and Jones, 2022 (Mol Ecol Resour; 962) introduce a new R package, snpR. This package combines a large number of existing analyses, to provide a one-stop shop for population genomics. F-statistics, admixture analyses, effective population size inferences, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), and parentage analyses are all implemented natively within the package. A variety of third-party software can also be run without leaving the R environment. The authors pay particular attention to data structure - avoiding redundancy - and allowing analyses to be run across multiple sample or single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) groupings. Because of its great accessibility and wide range of analyses, snpR has the potential to become a favourite within the Molecular Ecology community.