Techniques and statistical data analysis in molecular population genetics

Following the development of PCR methods, molecular techniques have become widely used for detecting genetic variation in natural populations. Most nu cleotide changes can be detected by these techniques. Many of these changes probably reflect silent substitutions that are likely to be selectively ne utral, making them particularly suitable to population genetic studies. In this paper, we review the published literature on molecular population gene tics, with respect to the genome assayed (nuclear, mitochondrial or chlorop last), the organisms studied, the molecular techniques used, and the biolog ical problems addressed. Several molecular techniques are then compared usi ng experimental results obtained from a population genetic study of the Myt ilus complex in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. Finally, the most app ropriate theoretical tools to analyse molecular population genetic data are discussed.