Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on September 15, 2004.

Genetics, Vol. 168, 2363-2372, December 2004, Copyright © 2004
doi:10.1534/genetics.104.029488

The Probability and Chromosomal Extent of trans-specific Polymorphism

* Department of Statistics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3TG, United Kingdom
{dagger} Program in Molecular and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-1340

3 Corresponding author: Molecular and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, SHS 172, 835 W. 37th St., Los Angeles, CA 90089-1340.
E-mail: magnus{at}usc.edu

Balancing selection may result in trans-specific polymorphism: the maintenance of allelic classes that transcend species boundaries by virtue of being more ancient than the species themselves. At the selected site, gene genealogies are expected not to reflect the species tree. Because of linkage, the same will be true for part of the surrounding chromosomal region. Here we obtain various approximations for the distribution of the length of this region and discuss the practical implications of our results. Our main finding is that the trans-specific region surrounding a single-locus balanced polymorphism is expected to be quite short, probably too short to be readily detectable. Thus lack of obvious trans-specific polymorphism should not be taken as evidence against balancing selection. When trans-specific polymorphism is obvious, on the other hand, it may be reasonable to argue that selection must be acting on multiple sites or that recombination is suppressed in the surrounding region.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
GeneticsHome page
J. F. Storz and J. K. Kelly
Effects of Spatially Varying Selection on Nucleotide Diversity and Linkage Disequilibrium: Insights From Deer Mouse Globin Genes
Genetics, September 1, 2008; 180(1): 367 - 379.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
J. Vieira, E. Teles, R. A. M. Santos, and C. P. Vieira
Recombination at Prunus S-Locus Region SLFL1 Gene
Genetics, September 1, 2008; 180(1): 483 - 491.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
S. Takuno, R. Fujimoto, T. Sugimura, K. Sato, S. Okamoto, S.-L. Zhang, and T. Nishio
Effects of Recombination on Hitchhiking Diversity in the Brassica Self-incompatibility Locus Complex
Genetics, October 1, 2007; 177(2): 949 - 958.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
J. F. Storz, M. Baze, J. L. Waite, F. G. Hoffmann, J. C. Opazo, and J. P. Hayes
Complex Signatures of Selection and Gene Conversion in the Duplicated Globin Genes of House Mice
Genetics, September 1, 2007; 177(1): 481 - 500.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
X. Maside and B. Charlesworth
Patterns of Molecular Variation and Evolution in Drosophila americana and Its Relatives
Genetics, August 1, 2007; 176(4): 2293 - 2305.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
D. A. Loisel, M. V. Rockman, G. A. Wray, J. Altmann, and S. C. Alberts
Ancient polymorphism and functional variation in the primate MHC-DQA1 5' cis-regulatory region
PNAS, October 31, 2006; 103(44): 16331 - 16336.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
K. L. Bubb, D. Bovee, D. Buckley, E. Haugen, M. Kibukawa, M. Paddock, A. Palmieri, S. Subramanian, Y. Zhou, R. Kaul, et al.
Scan of Human Genome Reveals No New Loci Under Ancient Balancing Selection
Genetics, August 1, 2006; 173(4): 2165 - 2177.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
J. Hagenblad, J. Bechsgaard, and D. Charlesworth
Linkage Disequilibrium Between Incompatibility Locus Region Genes in the Plant Arabidopsis lyrata
Genetics, June 1, 2006; 173(2): 1057 - 1073.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
D. Charlesworth, E. Kamau, J. Hagenblad, and C. Tang
Trans-specificity at Loci Near the Self-Incompatibility Loci in Arabidopsis
Genetics, April 1, 2006; 172(4): 2699 - 2704.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Home page
GeneticsHome page
M. Slatkin and J. L. Pollack
The Concordance of Gene Trees and Species Trees at Two Linked Loci
Genetics, March 1, 2006; 172(3): 1979 - 1984.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]