simuPOP: a forward-time population genetics simulation environment.

Abstract

simuPOP is a forward-time population genetics simulation environment. The core of simuPOP is a scripting language (Python) that provides a large number of objects and functions to manipulate populations, and a mechanism to evolve populations forward in time. Using this R/Splus-like environment, users can create, manipulate and evolve populations interactively, or write a script and run it as a batch file. Owing to its flexible and extensible design, simuPOP can simulate large and complex evolutionary processes with ease. At a more user-friendly level, simuPOP provides an increasing number of built-in scripts that perform simulations ranging from implementation of basic population genetics models to generating datasets under complex evolutionary scenarios. simuPOP is freely available at http://simupop.sourceforge.net, distributed under GPL license.