RAiSD detects positive selection based on multiple signatures of a selective sweep and SNP vectors

Abstract

Selective sweeps leave distinct signatures locally in genomes, enabling the detection of loci that have undergone recent positive selection. Multiple signatures of a selective sweep are known, yet each neutrality test only identifies a single signature. We present RAiSD (Raised Accuracy in Sweep Detection), an open-source software that implements a novel, to our knowledge, and parameter-free detection mechanism that relies on multiple signatures of a selective sweep via the enumeration of SNP vectors. RAiSD achieves higher sensitivity and accuracy than the current state of the art, while the computational complexity is greatly reduced, allowing up to 1000 times faster processing than widely used tools, and negligible memory requirements.