Allele Frequency Difference AFD⁻An Intuitive Alternative to FST for Quantifying Genetic Population Differentiation.

ABSTRACT: Measuring the magnitude of differentiation between populations based on genetic markers is commonplace in ecology, evolution, and conservation biology. The predominant differentiation metric used for this purpose is FST. Based on a qualitative survey, numerical analyses, simulations, and empirical data, I here argue that FST does not express the relationship to allele frequency differentiation between populations generally considered interpretable and desirable by researchers. In particular, FST (1) has low sensitivity when population differentiation is weak, (2) is contingent on the minor allele frequency across the populations, (3) can be strongly affected by asymmetry in sample sizes, and (4) can differ greatly among the available estimators. Together, these features can complicate patt

SUBMITTER: Berner D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6523497 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature