The number of alleles at a microsatellite defines the allele frequency spectrum and facilitates fast accurate estimation of theta.

ABSTRACT: Theoretical work focused on microsatellite variation has produced a number of important results, including the expected distribution of repeat sizes and the expected squared difference in repeat size between two randomly selected samples. However, closed-form expressions for the sampling distribution and frequency spectrum of microsatellite variation have not been identified. Here, we use coalescent simulations of the stepwise mutation model to develop gamma and exponential approximations of the microsatellite allele frequency spectrum, a distribution central to the description of microsatellite variation across the genome. For both approximations, the parameter of biological relevance is the number of alleles at a locus, which we express as a function of θ, the population-scaled mutation

SUBMITTER: Haasl RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3299306 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature