Inference Under a Wright-Fisher Model Using an Accurate Beta Approximation

TY - JOUR

T1 - Inference Under a Wright-Fisher Model Using an Accurate Beta Approximation

AU - Tataru, Paula

AU - Bataillon, Thomas

AU - Hobolth, Asger

PY - 2015/11

Y1 - 2015/11

N2 - The large amount and high quality of genomic data available today enables, in principle, accurate inference of evolutionary histories of observed populations. The Wright-Fisher model is one of the most widely used models for this purpose. It describes the stochastic behavior in time of allele frequencies and the influence of evolutionary pressures, such as mutation and selection. Despite its simple mathematical formulation, exact results for the distribution of allele frequency (DAF) as a function of time are not available in closed analytic form. Existing approximations build on the computationally intensive diffusion limit, or rely on matching moments of the DAF. One of the moment-based approximations relies on the beta distribution, which can accurately describe the DAF when the allele frequency is not close to the boundaries (zero and one). Nonetheless, under a Wright-Fisher model, the probability of being on the boundary can be positive, corresponding to the allele being either lost or fixed. Here, we introduce the beta with spikes, an extension of the beta approximation, which explicitly models the loss and fixation probabilities as two spikes at the boundaries. We show that the addition of spikes greatly improves the quality of the approximation. We additionally illustrate, using both simulated and real data, how the beta with spikes can be used for inference of divergence times between populations, with comparable performance to an existing state-of-the-art method.

AB - The large amount and high quality of genomic data available today enables, in principle, accurate inference of evolutionary histories of observed populations. The Wright-Fisher model is one of the most widely used models for this purpose. It describes the stochastic behavior in time of allele frequencies and the influence of evolutionary pressures, such as mutation and selection. Despite its simple mathematical formulation, exact results for the distribution of allele frequency (DAF) as a function of time are not available in closed analytic form. Existing approximations build on the computationally intensive diffusion limit, or rely on matching moments of the DAF. One of the moment-based approximations relies on the beta distribution, which can accurately describe the DAF when the allele frequency is not close to the boundaries (zero and one). Nonetheless, under a Wright-Fisher model, the probability of being on the boundary can be positive, corresponding to the allele being either lost or fixed. Here, we introduce the beta with spikes, an extension of the beta approximation, which explicitly models the loss and fixation probabilities as two spikes at the boundaries. We show that the addition of spikes greatly improves the quality of the approximation. We additionally illustrate, using both simulated and real data, how the beta with spikes can be used for inference of divergence times between populations, with comparable performance to an existing state-of-the-art method.

UR - http://www.genetics.org/content/201/3/1133.abstract

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0016-6731

VL - 201

SP - 1133

EP - 1141

JO - Genetics

JF - Genetics

IS - 3

ER -