On May 12, 2006, PED Seminar Series Presents

Balancing Selection and the Moran Model

by Christina Muirhead

Balancing selection, which acts to maintain polymorphism, is thought to be instrumental in the maintenance of certain highly multiallelic systems such as the major histocompatibility loci of vertebrates, and plant self-incompatibility loci. A full population genetic theory of multiallelic selection systems is difficult, and previous stochastic theory has been based on diffusion approximations to the Wright-Fisher model of reproduction. I present an alternative approach, using a Moran model of reproduction. Using the Moran model allows for exact solutions that do not rely on either weak selection or weak mutation approximations. This allows for broader exploration of realistic models of selection and demography, and I present some examples of how this model can be used to interpret population data.

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