To what extent does genealogical ancestry imply genetic ancestry?

TL;DR

This paper explores the relationship between genealogical and genetic ancestry, analyzing how the number of descendant alleles relates to genealogical descendants in a diploid model.

Contribution

It extends Joseph Chang's genealogical model to investigate the connection between genealogical and genetic ancestry in diploid populations.

Findings

Genealogical MRCA can be recent, while genetic MRCA is often ancient.

The model reveals complex relationships between genealogical and genetic lineages.

Results provide insights into the temporal dynamics of ancestry.

Abstract

Recent statistical and computational analyses have shown that a genealogical most recent common ancestor (MRCA) may have lived in the recent past. However, coalescent-based approaches show that genetic most recent common ancestors for a given non-recombining locus are typically much more ancient. It is not immediately clear how these two perspectives interact. This paper investigates relationships between the number of descendant alleles of an ancestor allele and the number of genealogical descendants of the individual who possessed that allele for a simple diploid genetic model extending the genealogical model of Joseph Chang.