Heterosis or neutrality?

Abstract

Various statistics have been proposed on an ad hoc basis to test whether alleles at a locus are selectively neutral. By considering population models in which selection operates, this paper shows that the population homozygosity is a powerful test statistic for testing departures from neutrality, in the direction of heterozygote advantage or disadvantage. The sample homozygosity plays a similar role when only sample data are available. Some numerical examples are included, showing the application of the test.--An analysis is made of the effect of heterosis on such quantities as the expected number of alleles in the population or sample, the effective number of alleles, the expected homozygosity, and on the population and sample allele frequency distributions generally.