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A Neutrality Test for Continuous Characters Based on Levels of Intraspecific Variation and Interspecific Divergence

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Non-Neutral Evolution

Abstract

One of the most powerful approaches for inferring the action of evolutionary forces is the comparison of intraspecific nucleotide polymorphism to the divergence between species in DNA sequences. The infinite sites model of neutral molecular evolution provides a well-described null hypothesis for expected levels of polymorphism and divergence and the Hudson-Kreitman-Aguadé test is one formal statistical test for departure from this null hypothesis. In this paper the predictions of the neutral model for continuous characters are examined as are some data on intraspecific variation and interspecific divergence of metabolic characters. These traits are being examined because of the likely simplicity of the molecular basis for their variation. Predictions of within-population variance and between-population divergence for quantitative characters have been derived by several investigators and here these results are brought together in the context of testing the null hypothesis of neutrality. Data on variation in enzyme activities provide clear departures from the neutral model. Some limitations of the approach are discussed.

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Authors
  1. Andrew G. Clark
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

    Brian Golding

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© 1994 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Clark, A.G. (1994). A Neutrality Test for Continuous Characters Based on Levels of Intraspecific Variation and Interspecific Divergence. In: Golding, B. (eds) Non-Neutral Evolution. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2383-3_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-2383-3_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-05391-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-2383-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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