title: Directional evolution of size coupled with ascertainment bias for variation in Drosophila microsatellites.
abstract: Species-specific differences in microsatellite locus length and ascertainment bias have both been proposed to explain differences in microsatellite variability and length usually observed when loci isolated in one species are used to survey variation in a related species. Here we provide a simple algebraic approach to independently estimate the contributions of true species-specific length differences and ascertainment bias. We apply this approach to a reciprocal-isolation microsatellite study and show contributions of both ascertainment bias and a true longer average microsatellite length in Drosophila melanogaster compared with D. simulans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Amos
authors.forename: Carolyn M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hutter
authors.forename: Malcolm D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Schug
authors.forename: Charles F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Aquadro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D014644:Genetic Variation; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats; D008957:Models, Genetic; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity