Gene flow analysis method, the D-statistic, is robust in a wide parameter space.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:We evaluated the sensitivity of the D-statistic, a parsimony-like method widely used to detect gene flow between closely related species. This method has been applied to a variety of taxa with a wide range of divergence times. However, its parameter space and thus its applicability to a wide taxonomic range has not been systematically studied. Divergence time, population size, time of gene flow, distance of outgroup and number of loci were examined in a sensitivity analysis. RESULT:The sensitivity study shows that the primary determinant of the D-statistic is the relative population size, i.e. the population size scaled by the number of generations since divergence. This is consistent with the fact that the main confounding factor in gene flow detection is incomplete lineage sor

SUBMITTER: Zheng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5759368 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature