Is F ST obsolete?

Since the introduction of allozyme methods inthe mid 1960s it has been a standard practiceto report Wright's measure of populationsubdivision, F ST, for surveys ofgenetic variation. Its widespread use hasprovided us with a sense of what values can beexpected in particular situations and how the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Conservation genetics 2002, Vol.3 (2), p.167-173
Main Author: Neigel, Joseph E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
allozymes
gene flow
genetic markers
surveys
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Since the introduction of allozyme methods inthe mid 1960s it has been a standard practiceto report Wright's measure of populationsubdivision, F ST, for surveys ofgenetic variation. Its widespread use hasprovided us with a sense of what values can beexpected in particular situations and how theycan be interpreted. With some theoreticaljustification, F ST has also beenused to estimate rates of gene flow. Howeverthere are conditions under which F STis inappropriate for gene flow estimation andcan lead to incorrect or even absurdconclusions. These pitfalls have promptedcritics to suggest that F ST hasfailed to deliver what its proponents havepromised and should be abandoned. A furtherchallenge has been the development of newmethods that offer even greater promise. Thusit is reasonable to ask if perhaps it is timeto retire F ST and turn to new andmore powerful methods for the inference of geneflow from genetic markers. Here I will arguethat although gene flow should be estimated bymore powerful approaches whenever practical,F ST remains a useful measure of theaverage effects of gene flow and will continueto be used for comparative purposes.
ISSN:1566-0621
1572-9737
DOI:10.1023/A:1015213626922