Selective structure of a gene pool. I. Feasibility of research

Possibilities of studying the properties of a selective gene pool structure, a new characteristic of the population genetic structure, are described. The characteristic depends on the type of selection and its effects on individual genes. The selective structure is evaluated by estimating significant differences between the interpopulation variation of i genes (FST(i)) and the average variation of the total gene pool (FST). This allows the role of individual genes in the selective gene pool structure to be determined and a hypothesis on the effect of the selection proposed, thus, providing a possibility of comparing individual genes and gene pools in terms of the effects of the natural selection, the key microevolutionary factor. The authors also describe properties and a reliable estimation of FST(i) and FST, possibilities and factors of estimating a selection-neutral differentiation F(e) from genetic demographical data and the empirical average FST of gene markers (classical, DNA, quasi-genetic), stability of genetic processes and other aspects of using an equality FST = F(e) = 1/[4NeMe + 1], construction of a representative sample of a populations with regard to their hierarchic structure, gene sampling and polymorphism, etc. FST(i) values for gene pools of indigenous populations from various continents and various regions of northeast Eurasia were estimated (> 90 alleles, > 30 loci). For all polymorphic genes (0.05 < or = q < or = 0.95), the average FST x 10(2) was 1.60 in Europe, 8.01 in Asia, 6.63 in Africa, 6.34 in Australia, 11.34 in America, and 6.78 in northeast Eurasia. Regional gene pools of the latter displayed FST of 2.25 in the European part, 2.62 in the Caucasus, 3.55 in the Urals, 2.71 in Central Asia and Kazakhstan, and 8.02 in Siberia and the Russian Far East.