Estimating population divergence time and phylogeny from single-nucleotide polymorphisms data with outgroup ascertainment bias

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The inference of population divergence times and branching patterns is of fundamental importance in many population genetic analyses. Many methods have been developed for estimating population divergence times, and recently, there has been particular attention towards genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) data. However, most SNP data have been affected by an ascertainment bias caused by the SNP selection and discovery protocols. Here, we present a modification of an existing maximum likelihood method that will allow approximately unbiased inferences when ascertainment is based on a set of outgroup populations. We also present a method for estimating trees from the asymmetric dissimilarity measures arising from pairwise divergence time estimation in population genetics. We evaluate the methods by simulations and by applying them to a large SNP data set of seven East Asian populations.

Original languageEnglish
JournalMolecular Ecology
Volume21
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)974-986
Number of pages13
ISSN0962-1083
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • ascertainment bias, maximum likelihood, phylogeny, population divergence

ID: 222639348