title: High Frequency Haplotypes are Expected Events, not Historical Figures.
abstract: Cultural transmission of reproductive success states that successful men have more children and pass this raised fecundity to their offspring. Balaresque and colleagues found high frequency haplotypes in a Central Asian Y chromosome dataset, which they attribute to cultural transmission of reproductive success by prominent historical men, including Genghis Khan. Using coalescent simulation, we show that these high frequency haplotypes are consistent with a neutral model, where they commonly appear simply by chance. Hence, explanations invoking cultural transmission of reproductive success are statistically unnecessary.
authors.affiliation: Statistics and Bioinformatics Group, Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand; Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Elsa G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Guillot
authors.affiliation: Statistics and Bioinformatics Group, Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Murray P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Cox
keywords: Cultural Transmission of Reproductive Success; Haplotype Frequencies; Neutrality