Genetics in geographically structured populations: defining, estimating and interpreting F(ST) - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

Genetics in geographically structured populations: defining, estimating and interpreting F(ST)

Kent E Holsinger et al. Nat Rev Genet. 2009 Sep.

Abstract

Wright's F-statistics, and especially F(ST), provide important insights into the evolutionary processes that influence the structure of genetic variation within and among populations, and they are among the most widely used descriptive statistics in population and evolutionary genetics. Estimates of F(ST) can identify regions of the genome that have been the target of selection, and comparisons of F(ST) from different parts of the genome can provide insights into the demographic history of populations. For these reasons and others, F(ST) has a central role in population and evolutionary genetics and has wide applications in fields that range from disease association mapping to forensic science. This Review clarifies how F(ST) is defined, how it should be estimated, how it is related to similar statistics and how estimates of F(ST) should be interpreted.

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Figure 1

Figure 1. Locus-specific estimates of _F_ST on human chromosome 7

Estimates are as inferred from the phase II HapMap data set. Horizontal bars indicate the locations of known genes. The red circles are posterior means for SNPs with estimates that are detectably different from the genomic background (purple circles). All ‘outliers’ show significantly more differentiation among the four populations in the sample than is consistent with the level of differentiation seen in the genomic background. The excess differentiation suggests that these SNPs are associated with genomic regions in which loci have been subject to diversifying selection among populations. CALU, calumenin; FSCN3, ascin homolog 3; GCC1, GRIP and coiled-coil domain containing 1; GRM8, glutamate receptor, metabotropic 8; LEP, leptin; SND1, staphylococcal nuclease and tudor domain containing 1. Figure is modified, with permission, from REF. © (2009) American Statistical Association.

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