An evaluation of genetic distance for use with microsatellite loci

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · American Journal of Human Genetics

OSTI ID:133899

Goldstein, D B; Feldman, M W; Cavalli-Sforza, L L ^[1]

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1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States); and others

Mutations of alleles at microsatellite loci tend to result in alleles with repeat scores similar to those of the alleles from which they were derived. Therefore the difference in repeat score between alleles carries information about the amount of time that has passed since they shared a common ancestral allele. This information is ignored by genetic distances based on the infinite alleles model. Here we develop a genetic distance based on the stepwise mutation model that includes allelic repeat score. We adapt earlier treatments of the stepwise mutation model to show analytically that the expectation of this distance is a linear function of time. We then use computer simulations to evaluate the overall reliability of this distance, and to compare it with other distances. Finally, we use a simple approximation to evaluate the effect of restrictions on the maximum repeat score of microsatellite alleles. This analysis shows that, contrary to previous suggestions, typical microsatellite loci may be useful for reconstructing the relationships among taxa separated for up to a million generations.

• OSTI ID: 133899
• Report Number(s): CONF-941009--
• Journal Information: American Journal of Human Genetics, Journal Name: American Journal of Human Genetics Journal Issue: Suppl.3 Vol. 55; ISSN AJHGAG; ISSN 0002-9297
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
BIOLOGICAL MARKERS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DISTANCE
GENE MUTATIONS
GENES
GENETIC MAPPING
NUCLEOTIDES
RELIABILITY
STATISTICS