Expectation of the Site Frequency Spectrum
Populations and Evolution
2021-03-02 v1
Abstract
The site frequency spectrum describes variation among a set of n DNA sequences. Its i'th entry (i=1,2,...,n-1) is the number of nucleotide sites at which the mutant allele is present in i copies. Under selective neutrality, random mating, and constant population size, the expected value of the spectrum is well known but somewhat puzzling. Each additional sequence added to a sample adds an entry to the end of the expected spectrum but does not affect existing entries. This note reviews the reasons for this behavior.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2103.00335,
title = {Expectation of the Site Frequency Spectrum},
author = {Alan R. Rogers and Stephen P. Wooding},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2103.00335},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
3 pages; 1 figure; no plans to publish elsewhere