Open AccessGenetic Drift in an Infinite Population: The Pseudohitchhiking Model
Author(s) -
John Gillespie
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.792
H-Index - 246
eISSN - 1943-2631
pISSN - 0016-6731
DOI - 10.1093/genetics/155.2.909
Subject(s) - coalescent theory , neutral theory of molecular evolution , locus (genetics) , genetic drift , markov chain , statistical physics , population , genetic model , allele frequency , neutral mutation , biology , genetics , population genetics , allele , markov process , evolutionary biology , mathematics , physics , genetic variation , statistics , gene , phylogenetic tree , demography , sociology
Selected substitutions at one locus can induce stochastic dynamics that resemble genetic drift at a closely linked neutral locus. The pseudohitchhiking model is a one-locus model that approximates these effects and can be used to describe the major consequences of linked selection. As the changes in neutral allele frequencies when hitchhiking are rapid, diffusion theory is not appropriate for studying neutral dynamics. A stationary distribution and some results on substitution processes are presented that use the theory of continuous-time Markov processes with discontinuous sample paths. The coalescent of the pseudohitchhiking model is shown to have a random number of branches at each node, which leads to a frequency spectrum that is different from that of the equilibrium neutral model. If genetic draft, the name given to these induced stochastic effects, is a more important stochastic force than genetic drift, then a number of paradoxes that have plagued population genetics disappear.