Major inconsistencies of inferred population genetic structure estimated in a large set of domestic horse breeds using microsatellites.

ABSTRACT: STRUCTURE remains the most applied software aimed at recovering the true, but unknown, population structure from microsatellite or other genetic markers. About 30% of structure-based studies could not be reproduced (Molecular Ecology, 21, 2012, 4925). Here we use a large set of data from 2,323 horses from 93 domestic breeds plus the Przewalski horse, typed at 15 microsatellites, to evaluate how program settings impact the estimation of the optimal number of population clusters K _opt that best describe the observed data. Domestic horses are suited as a test case as there is extensive background knowledge on the history of many breeds and extensive phylogenetic analyses. Different methods based on different genetic assumptions and statistical procedures (dapc, flock,

SUBMITTER: Funk SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7246218 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature