Patterns of DNA sequence diversity and genetic structure after a range expansion: lessons from the infinite‐island model

It has been long recognized that population demographic expansions lead to distinctive features in the molecular diversity of populations. However, recent simulation results have suggested that a distinction could be made between a pure demographic expansion in an unsubdivided population, and a range expansion in a subdivided population, both leading to a large increase in the total number of the individuals. In order to better characterize the effect of a range expansion, I introduce a simple model of instantaneous expansion under an infinite-island model, under which I derive the distribution of the number of mutation differences between pairs of genes (the mismatch distribution), the heterozygosity, the…

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  National Science Foundation