Multilocus population genetics: relative importance of selection and recombination.

Abstract Difficulties of the exact analysis of multilocus systems lead to a feeling that a radical change of point of view should be attempted. The questions one asks about the behavior of a multilocus system should differ from the usual questions we ask when analyzing low-dimensional dynamical systems. We show in this paper that the likelihood for selection to prevail over recombination grows with the number of loci involved. In other words, the average fitness will in “most cases” behave as if the system were in complete linkage equilibrium.

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