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Updated: Mar 1, 2026

An Allele-specific Gene Expression Assay to Test the Functional Basis of Genetic Associations
Published on: November 3, 2010
DIFFERENTIATION OF A MULTIGENE FAMILY BETWEEN POPULATIONS
1Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Box 8203, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8203.
Abstract:
Differentiation of a multigene family between populations is investigated under the forces of intrachromosomal unbiased gene conversion, neutral mutation, recombination, and random drift. The infinite-site model without recombination within the gene is employed, and the average numbers of the different sites between pairs of genes at the same locus and at different loci from two populations that divided some time ago are calculated as functions of time. Since differentiation is a relative concept in which differences between populations are expressed in comparison with those within a population and since there is most likely a reduction in population size after the division of populations, the time-dependent behavior of the corresponding quantities within a population is also investigated using approximate and numerical methods. It is found that intrachromosomal unbiased gene conversion promotes differentiation at the same locus but promotes or retards that between different loci, depending on the parameters in a recently divided population.
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