The probability and chromosomal extent of trans-specific polymorphism

TY - JOUR

T1 - The probability and chromosomal extent of trans-specific polymorphism

AU - Wiuf, Carsten

AU - Zhao, Keyan

AU - Innan, Hideki

AU - Nordborg, Magnus

PY - 2004/12/1

Y1 - 2004/12/1

N2 - Balancing selection may result in tans-specific polymorphism: the maintenance of allelic classes that transcend species boundaries by virtue of being more ancient than the species themselves. At the selected site, gene genealogies are expected not to reflect the species tree. Because of linkage, the same will be true for part of the surrounding chromosomal region. Here we obtain various approximations for the distribution of the length of this region and discuss the practical implications of our results. Our main finding is that the trans-specific region surrounding a single-locus balanced polymorphism is expected to be quite short, probably too short to be readily detectable. Thus lack of obvious trans-specific polymorphism should not be taken as evidence against balancing selection. When trans-specific polymorphism is obvious, on the other hand, it may be reasonable to argue that selection must be acting on multiple sites or that recombination is suppressed in the surrounding region.

AB - Balancing selection may result in tans-specific polymorphism: the maintenance of allelic classes that transcend species boundaries by virtue of being more ancient than the species themselves. At the selected site, gene genealogies are expected not to reflect the species tree. Because of linkage, the same will be true for part of the surrounding chromosomal region. Here we obtain various approximations for the distribution of the length of this region and discuss the practical implications of our results. Our main finding is that the trans-specific region surrounding a single-locus balanced polymorphism is expected to be quite short, probably too short to be readily detectable. Thus lack of obvious trans-specific polymorphism should not be taken as evidence against balancing selection. When trans-specific polymorphism is obvious, on the other hand, it may be reasonable to argue that selection must be acting on multiple sites or that recombination is suppressed in the surrounding region.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=11244317152&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1534/genetics.104.029488

DO - 10.1534/genetics.104.029488

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 15371365

AN - SCOPUS:11244317152

SN - 1943-2631

VL - 168

SP - 2363

EP - 2372

JO - Genetics

JF - Genetics

IS - 4

ER -