A MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATOR OF THE GENETIC IDENTITY BETWEEN POLYPLOID SPECIES

Based on a recently proposed method for estimating the genetic identit y between polyploid species, maximum-likelihood estimators are given f or the genetic identity between polyploid species, for the ancestral d egree of homozygosity and their variances. As an example, the genetic identity, the ancestral degree of homozygosity and their variances wer e estimated from data sets of populations of two species, the weevil P olydrusus mollis and the salamander Ensatina complex. It was found tha t other indices of the genetic identity between species obviously unde restimate genetic identity due to the pooling of differences caused by mutation and drift. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited.