Cited by 84Genetic diversity and population structureEvolution and Genetic DynamicsForensic and Genetic Research

The effective founder effect in a spatially expanding population

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Peter, Benjamin M., Slatkin, Montgomery·2015·Evolution

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

The gradual loss of diversity and the establishment of clines in allele frequencies associated with range expansions are patterns observed in many species, including humans. These patterns can result from a series of founder events occurring as populations colonize previously unoccupied areas. We develop a model of an expanding population and, using a branching process approximation, show that spatial gradients reflect different amounts of genetic drift experienced by different subpopulations. We then use this model to measure the net average strength of the founder effect, and we demonstrate that the predictions from the branching process model fit simulation results well. We further show that estimates of the effective founder size are robust to potential confounding factors such as migration between subpopulations. We apply our method to data from Arabidopsis thaliana. We find that the average founder effect is approximately three times larger in the Americas than in Europe, possibly indicating that a more recent, rapid expansion occurred.

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  • The average number of pairwise differences between populations correlates more strongly with their divergence time than the outgroup-F3 statistic does.

    “since πij has been shown to have higher correlation with the divergence time between two populations (i and j) than the outgroup-F3 statistic81”

    From Paths and timings of the peopling of Polynesia inferred from genomic networks (2021) · cites this paper as [81]

    The Results (Range Expansion Model and Overview of Theoretical Results; page unavailable) discuss the directionality index ψ and geographic distance, not the relative correlations of πij and outgroup-F3 with divergence time. Searches for outgroup-F3, pairwise differences, and πij found no passage addressing that comparison. (LLM, conf=0.74)

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Authors
Peter, B. M., & Slatkin, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Chicago (US)
  • University of California, Berkeley (US)
Venue
Evolution
Published
2015-03
Volume
69
Issue
3
Pages
721-734
ISSN
0014-3820 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2951478696
Cited by
84
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 10 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
FWCI
2.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Evolution (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institutes of Health (R01-GMR0282)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Genetic diversity and population structure
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Forensic and Genetic Research
Keywords
founder effect, range expansion, genetic drift, allele frequency clines, branching process model, migration, Arabidopsis thaliana
MeSH terms
Computer Simulation, Gene Frequency, Genetics, Population, Models, Genetic, Population Density, Arabidopsis, Founder Effect, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Genetic Drift

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