Molecular epidemiology of clonal diploids: a quick overview and a short DIY (do it yourself) notice

In this short review we report the basic notions needed for understanding the population genetics of clonal diploids. We focus on the consequences of clonality on the distribution of genetic diversity within individuals, between individuals and between populations. We then summarise how to detect clonality in mainly sexual populations, conversely, how to detect sexuality in mainly clonal populations and also how genetic differentiation between populations is affected by clonality in diploids. This information is then used for building recipes on how to analyse and interpret genetic polymorphism data in molecular epidemiology studies of clonal diploids.