PROPERTIES OF STATISTICAL TESTS OF NEUTRALITY FOR DNA POLYMORPHISM DATA

A class of statistical tests based on molecular polymorphism data is s tudied to determine size and power properties. The class includes TAJI MA's D statistic as well as the D and F* tests proposed by FU and LI. A new method of constructing critical values for these tests is descr ibed. Simulations indicate that TAJIMA's test is generally most powerf ul against the alternative hypotheses of selective sweep, population b ottleneck, and population subdivision, among tests within this class. However, even TAJIMA's test can detect a selective sweep or bottleneck only if it has occurred within a specific interval of time in the rec ent past or population subdivision only when it has persisted for a ve ry long time. For greatest power against the particular alternatives s tudied here, it is better to sequence more alleles than more sites.