The dynamics of interlocus associations in the three locus hitchhiking model. I. The three-way linkage disequilibrium function (Q1078112)

This paper is concerned with the mathematical analysis of a complex genetic problem. The author studies the three-way linkage disequilibrium within deterministic three locus hitchhiking systems with two neutral and one selected loci. One of the neutral loci is assumed to be initially in linkage equilibrium with the selected locus, but similar results will hold approximately when \(D_{n_ 1s}D_{n_ 2s}\) is negligible relative to the three-way association, \(D_{n_ is}\) denoting the pairwise linkage disequilibrium between the selected locus and the neutral locus i. The author studies several selection models and discusses their behavior as a function of gene frequency at the selected locus, the strength of selection, the degree of recombination among loci, and the relative position of the selected locus. She finds that there are close qualitative similarities with the case of pairwise association between a neutral and a linked selected locus as previously studied by her and \textit{M. T. Clegg} in Genetics 99, 337-356 (1981).