Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!uunet!bionet!GENETICS.WASHINGTON.EDU!joe
From: joe@GENETICS.WASHINGTON.EDU (Joe Felsenstein)
Newsgroups: bionet.population-bio
Subject: Re: Estimation of Gene Flow (was re: true gene flow)
Message-ID: <9010161912.AA05560@evolution.genetics.washington.edu>
Date: 16 Oct 90 19:12:34 GMT
Sender: daemon@genbank.bio.net
Lines: 23



Josh Hayes proposes to use allozymes to look for gene flow in his
planktonic critters.  The main difficulty is that if the amount of
gene flow is above a critical minimum the allozymes will be essentially
randomized.  This means he will have difficulty telling medium from
high amounts of gene flow.  (He should look into Slatkin's rare allele
methods, but the problem remains with that as well).

At the same time, the genes for the sex ratio he is looking at could
remain differentiated geographically, as they are (putatively) under
selection.  The allozymes are neutral or nearly so, and would be
randomized much more easily than selected loci.  This makes it hard
to conclude from "medium-to-high" gene flow as judged from allozymes
whether the gene flow level is high enough to explain why sex ratios
appear to be wrong for local conditions.


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Joe Felsenstein, Dept. of Genetics, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
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