Pool and conquer: New tricks for (c)old problems

Abstract

The early period of genetics is closely associated with the study of chromosomal inversions. For almost a century, evolutionary biologists found evidence for the role of inversions in central processes such as adaptation and speciation. In spite of huge efforts, many questions remain about the evolutionary forces underlying the distribution and dynamics of inversions in natural populations. Fortunately, old problems can be solved with new tools. In this issue, Kapun et al. (2014) present a remarkable combination of resources and techniques, including publicly available data, karyotyping, statistical estimation of haplotypes, Pool-Seq data and experimental evolution, setting the ground for exciting developments in the field. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.