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Evolution of the most recent common ancestor of a population with no selection

Damien Simon·Bernard Derrida
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Abstract

We consider the evolution of a population of fixed size with no selection. The number of generations $G$ to reach the first common ancestor evolves in time. This evolution can be described by a simple Markov process which allows one to calculate several characteristics of the time dependence of $G$. We also study how $G$ is correlated to the genetic diversity.

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Damien Simon, Bernard Derrida. 2006-03-03. Evolution of the most recent common ancestor of a population with no selection. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-5468%2F2006%2F05%2Fp05002

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