GSpace: an exact coalescence simulator of recombining genomes under isolation by distance

Abstract

Motivation: Simulation-based inference can bypass the limitations of statistical methods based on analytical approximations, but software allowing simulation of structured population genetic data without the classical n-coalescent approximations (such as those following from assuming large population size) are scarce or slow. Results: We present GSpace, a simulator for genomic data, based on a generation-by-generation coalescence algorithm taking into account small population size, recombination and isolation by distance.