Open AccessMathematical constraints onFST: multiallelic markers in arbitrarily many populations
Author(s) -
Nicolas Alcala,
Noah A. Rosenberg
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
philosophical transactions - royal society. biological sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.753
H-Index - 272
eISSN - 1471-2970
pISSN - 0962-8436
DOI - 10.1098/rstb.2020.0414
Subject(s) - locus (genetics) , coalescent theory , allele , biology , evolutionary biology , microsatellite , allele frequency , genetics , gene , phylogenetics
Interpretations of values of theF ST measure of genetic differentiation rely on an understanding of its mathematical constraints. Previously, it has been shown thatF ST values computed from a biallelic locus in a set of multiple populations andF ST values computed from a multiallelic locus in a pair of populations are mathematically constrained as a function of the frequency of the allele that is most frequent across populations. We generalize from these cases to report here the mathematical constraint onF ST given the frequencyM of the most frequent allele at amultiallelic locus in a set ofmultiple populations. Using coalescent simulations of an island model of migration with an infinitely-many-alleles mutation model, we argue that the joint distribution ofF ST andM helps in disentangling the separate influences of mutation and migration onF ST . Finally, we show that our results explain a puzzling pattern of microsatellite differentiation: the lowerF ST in an interspecific comparison between humans and chimpanzees than in the comparison of chimpanzee populations. We discuss the implications of our results for the use ofF ST .This article is part of the theme issue ‘Celebrating 50 years since Lewontin's apportionment of human diversity’.