Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Exam Question #6

 
This is an easy question. Here are the others: Exam Question #1, Exam Question #2, Exam Question #3, Exam Question #4, Exam Question #5.
To a first approximation, the rate of fixation of neutral alleles in a population is independent of effective population size. Why?
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4 comments:

  1. TimTuesday, February 28, 2012 11:00:00 AM

    Because fixation of neutral alleles happens only via genetic drift?

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  2. DivalentTuesday, February 28, 2012 2:26:00 PM

    Because although the probability of fixation of a newly generated neutral allele is inversely proportional to the population size, the rate of generation of new neutral alleles is directly proportional to population size.

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  3. konradTuesday, February 28, 2012 8:27:00 PM

    Because when you do the math it works out that way. Same as the reason that 7x6=42.

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  4. Psi WavefunctionWednesday, February 29, 2012 11:46:00 AM

    I thought it was proportional to 4Ne*u?
    Though data do suggest that u generally scales inversely with Ne, so that may cancel out the effect of changing Ne?

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