populationGeneticsModel: Build a population-genetics Markov chain (Moran or...

In markovchain: Easy Handling Discrete Time Markov Chains

Build a population-genetics Markov chain (Moran or Wright-Fisher)

Description

Constructs the Markov chain tracking the number of copies of a mutant allele in a population of n individuals under mutation and viability selection, for either the Moran or the Wright-Fisher model of population genetics.

Usage

populationGeneticsModel(
  model = c("moran", "wright-fisher"),
  n,
  s = 0,
  u = 1e-09,
  v = 1e-09,
  states = NULL
)

Arguments

model	Either "moran" or "wright-fisher", selecting which reproduction scheme generates the transition matrix.
n	A single integer of at least 2: the (constant) population size. The chain has n + 1 states, 0,1,\ldots,n, the possible mutant-allele counts.
s	A single finite number greater than -1: the selection coefficient. The mutant allele's fitness relative to the wild-type is 1+s (s = 0 is neutral drift, s > 0 favours the mutant, -1 < s < 0 disfavours it).
u	A single number in [0,1]: the backward mutation rate, mutant to wild-type. Defaults to 1e-9, matching the effectively mutation-free chain conventionally used for the neutral/absorbing case.
v	A single number in [0,1]: the forward mutation rate, wild-type to mutant. Defaults to 1e-9.
states	An optional character vector of n + 1 state names. Defaults to as.character(0:n).

Details

Moran model. At each step one individual is chosen to reproduce (with probability proportional to its type's relative fitness, mutant fitness r=1+s against wild-type fitness 1) and one individual, chosen uniformly at random, dies and is replaced by the offspring, which mutates with probability u or v depending on the parent's type. From interior state i (0<i<n), writing r_i=(1+s)i and m_i=n-i,

P_{i,i-1}=\frac{i}{n}\cdot\frac{r_i v + m_i(1-u)}{r_i+m_i},\qquad P_{i,i+1}=\frac{m_i}{n}\cdot\frac{r_i(1-u) + m_i v}{r_i+m_i},

with P_{ii} the remainder.

Wright-Fisher model. Generations are discrete and non-overlapping: from interior state i, the mutant-allele frequency k=i/n is first updated for mutation, p=k(1-u)+(1-k)v, then for viability selection, p'=\min\bigl(p(1+s)/(1+ps),\,1\bigr), and the next generation's mutant count is \mathrm{Binomial}(n,p')-distributed: P_{ij}=\binom{n}{j}p'^{\,j}(1-p')^{n-j}.

Both constructions follow PyDTMC's population_genetics_model, with one deliberate difference: this function uses mutant relative fitness 1+s in both models (PyDTMC's Moran implementation instead uses 1-s, so that a positive s there favours the wild-type rather than the mutant, the opposite of its own Wright-Fisher convention and of the usual textbook one). s = 0 (neutral drift) and the mutation-rate terms are unaffected by this choice and match PyDTMC exactly; away from s = 0 the two packages' Moran chains differ by construction, by design, to keep s's meaning consistent between "moran" and "wright-fisher" within this package. As u, v shrink to 0, both reduce to the classical drift-only chains with absorbing loss/fixation states, going back to Wright (1931) and Moran (1958); see Ewens (2004) for a modern textbook treatment of both.

Value

A new, row-stochastic markovchain object on n + 1 states. States "0" and as.character(n) (loss and fixation of the mutant allele) are absorbing, following the standard textbook treatment of both models; every interior state has a transition row determined by model, s, u and v as detailed below.

References

Wright, S. (1931). Evolution in Mendelian populations. Genetics, 16(2), 97-159.

Moran, P. A. P. (1958). Random processes in genetics. Mathematical Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, 54(1), 60-71.

Ewens, W. J. (2004). Mathematical Population Genetics I: Theoretical Introduction (2nd ed.). Springer.

See Also

birthDeath, gamblersRuin

Examples

# Neutral drift (s = 0): absorption ("fixation") probability of the
# mutant allele from state i equals i/n, the classical result.
neutral <- populationGeneticsModel(model = "moran", n = 8, s = 0)
ap <- absorptionProbabilities(neutral)
ap["4", "8"] # close to 4/8 = 0.5

# Positive selection increases the fixation probability from any
# interior starting count.
favoured <- populationGeneticsModel(model = "wright-fisher", n = 8, s = 0.5)
absorptionProbabilities(favoured)["4", "8"]

markovchain documentation built on Oct. 10, 2026, 9:07 a.m.