Population bottlenecks and nonequilibrium models in population genetics. I. Allele numbers when populations evolve from zero variability.

A simple numerical method was developed for the mean number and average age of alleles in a population that was initiated with no genetic variation following a sudden population expansion. The methods are used to examine the question of whether allele numbers are elevated compared with values seen in equilibrium populations having equivalent gene diversity. Excess allele numbers in expanding populations were found to be the rule. This was true whether the population began with zero variation or with low levels of variation in either of two initial distributions (initially an equilibrium allele frequency distribution or initially with loci occurring in only two classes of variation). Although the increase of alleles may persist for only a short time, when compared with the time which is required for approach to final equilibrium, the increase may be long when measured in absolute generation numbers. The pattern of increase in very rare alleles (those present only once in a sample) and the persistence of the original allele were also investigated.