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Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2007-02 > 1172007021


From: (John Chandler)
Subject: Re: [DNA] More on Mutation Rates
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:30:21 -0500 (EST)
References: <KHEKIJEABJGJEKDPFEDMIEEKDEAA.elizabethod@eircom.net>
In-Reply-To: <KHEKIJEABJGJEKDPFEDMIEEKDEAA.elizabethod@eircom.net>


Elizabeth wrote:
> It's me again, wondering how Bruce Walsh's paper on 'Estimating the Time to
> the Most Recent Common Ancestor for the Y chromosome or Mitochondrial DNA
> for a Pair of Individuals'
> (http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/158/2/897#F3) fits into the
> equation of determining mutation rates compared to Zhivotovsky and John
> Chandler's statistics previously discussed.

Walsh starts by assuming a mutation rate and procedes to estimate the
unknown TMRCA of two given haplotypes. If you want to estimate the
mutation rate, you need to turn this process around and compare
haplotypes with known TMRCA. The problem with a population-based
approach, like that of Zhivotovsky et al, is that their composite
TMRCA is a statistical artifact based on the unknown details of the
population history, and they therefore have no idea how the TMRCA
relates to the historical age of the population.

John Chandler

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