  In sexual populations, selection operates neither on the whole genome, which
is repeatedly taken apart and reassembled by recombination, nor on individual
alleles that are tightly linked to the chromosomal neighborhood. The resulting
interference between linked alleles reduces the efficiency of selection and
distorts patterns of genetic diversity. Inference of evolutionary history from
diversity shaped by linked selection requires an understanding of these
patterns. Here, we present a simple but powerful scaling analysis identifying
the unit of selection as the genomic "linkage block" with a characteristic
length determined in a self-consistent manner by the condition that the rate of
recombination within the block is comparable to the fitness differences between
different alleles of the block. We find that an asexual model with the strength
of selection tuned to that of the linkage block provides an excellent
description of genetic diversity and the site frequency spectra when compared
to computer simulations. This linkage block approximation is accurate for the
entire spectrum of strength of selection and is particularly powerful in
scenarios with many weakly selected loci. The latter limit allows us to
characterize coalescence, genetic diversity, and the speed of adaptation in the
infinitesimal model of quantitative genetics.
