Thompson E A
Am J Hum Genet. 1976 Sep;28(5):442-52.
The problem considered is that of estimating the age or rate of increase of a variant on the basis of the present number of replicates observed in a population. In place of previous diffusion equation analyses of age probability distributions, the likelihood for the age is studied on the basis of a discrete branching process model. It is shown that variations inherent in the process of gene evolution in natural populations make it impossible to provide a reliable point estimate of the age of a specified variant, although the likelihood analysis provides a confidence interval which may place useful bounds on the period in which a variant originated. The observed distribution of numbers of several variants may also provide useful information. The problems of estimation are discussed with reference to rare variants arising in American Indian populations.
所考虑的问题是根据在一个群体中观察到的当前重复数来估计一个变体的年龄或增加率。取代以往对年龄概率分布的扩散方程分析,基于离散分支过程模型研究了年龄的似然性。结果表明,自然群体中基因进化过程中固有的变异使得无法对特定变体的年龄提供可靠的点估计,尽管似然性分析提供了一个置信区间,该区间可能为变体起源的时期提供有用的界限。观察到的几个变体的数量分布也可能提供有用的信息。结合美洲印第安人群体中出现的罕见变体对估计问题进行了讨论。