Techniques and statistical data analysis in molecular population genetics

Following the development of PCR methods, molecular techniques have become widely used for detecting genetic variation in natural populations. Most nucleotide changes can be detected by these techniques. Many of these changes probably reflect silent substitutions that are likely to be selectively neutral, making them particularly suitable to population genetic studies. In this paper, we review the published literature on molecular population genetics, with respect to the genome assayed (nuclear, mitochondrial or chloroplast), the organisms studied, the molecular techniques used, and the biological problems addressed. Several molecular techniques are then compared using experimental results obtained from a population genetic study of the Mytilus complex in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. Finally, the most appropriate theoretical tools to analyse molecular population genetic data are discussed.