Modeling multiallelic selection using a Moran model

Genetics. 2009 Aug;182(4):1141-57. doi: 10.1534/genetics.108.089474. Epub 2009 May 27.

Abstract

We present a Moran-model approach to modeling general multiallelic selection in a finite population and show how it may be used to develop theoretical models of biological systems of balancing selection such as plant gametophytic self-incompatibility loci. We propose new expressions for the stationary distribution of allele frequencies under selection and use them to show that the continuous-time Markov chain describing allele frequency change with exchangeable selection and Moran-model reproduction is reversible. We then use the reversibility property to derive the expected allele frequency spectrum in a finite population for several general models of multiallelic selection. Using simulations, we show that our approach is valid over a broader range of parameters than previous analyses of balancing selection based on diffusion approximations to the Wright-Fisher model of reproduction. Our results can be applied to any model of multiallelic selection in which fitness is solely a function of allele frequency.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Gene Frequency*
  • Genetics, Population
  • Markov Chains
  • Models, Genetic*
  • Reproduction / genetics
  • Selection, Genetic*