The Use of Microsatellite Variation to Infer Population Structure and Demographic History in a Natural Model System

To assess the reliability of genetic markers it is important to compare inferences that are based on them to a priori expectations. In this article we present an analysis of microsatellite variation within and among populations of island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) on California's Channel Island...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Genetics (Austin) 1999-02, Vol.151 (2), p.797-801
Main Authors: Goldstein, David B, Roemer, Gary W, Smith, Deborah A, Reich, David E, Bergman, Aviv, Wayne, Robert K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Demographics
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA, Satellite - genetics
Foxes
Genes
Genetic Markers
Genetics
Genetics, Population
Models, Genetic
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Urocyon littoralis
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Summary:To assess the reliability of genetic markers it is important to compare inferences that are based on them to a priori expectations. In this article we present an analysis of microsatellite variation within and among populations of island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) on California's Channel Islands. We first show that microsatellite variation at a moderate number of loci (19) can provide an essentially perfect description of the boundaries between populations and an accurate representation of their historical relationships. We also show that the pattern of variation across unlinked microsatellite loci can be used to test whether population size has been constant or increasing. Application of these approaches to the island fox system indicates that microsatellite variation may carry considerably more information about population history than is currently being used.
ISSN:0016-6731
1943-2631
1943-2631
DOI:10.1093/genetics/151.2.797