DraggleSimulator: An Open Source Web Application for Teaching Genetic Drift

Abstract

The concept of genetic drift in population genetics is a notoriously difficult concept to teach and to learn. DraggleSimulator is an open-source simulation web application written using Google’s Angular framework that allows students to create a metapopulation (a collection of isolated subpopulations) of draggles: fictitious, diploid (meaning they have a mom and a dad and two copies of every gene in their genomes, just like humans), monogamous (only mating with one other individual), and simultaneously-hermaphroditic animals (any individual can mate with any other individual and the sex of the individual is a non-issue). The animals mate at a rate consistent with replacement-level fertility (2 offspring per couple), and the simulator tracks these matings and how they change the composition of alleles (versions of genes) across generations.