Line-of-descent and genealogical processes, and their applications in population genetics models (Q761376)

The author gives a review of a variety of results for genealogical processes and line-of-descent processes. It is demonstrated that these processes play an important role in the theory of different classical population genetics models in so far as many classical results can be simplified. The paper contains a discussion of the Moran and Wright-Fisher multiple- allele single locus models, an introduction into genealogical Markov chains, a study of the Kingman coalescent process (including approximations by a continuous-time process) and a chapter on line-of- descent processes with mutation. A great part of the article is concerned with applications of different results about genealogical chains in order to investigate some properties of the diffusion processes that occur in the study of gene frequencies. Finally the role of genealogy in the infinite sites models is discussed and, at the end of this comprehensive paper, an outlook to areas of future research is given.