The breakdown of genomic ancestry blocks in hybrid lineages given a finite number of recombination sites

Abstract

When a lineage originates from hybridization genomic blocks of contiguous ancestry from different ancestors are fragmented through genetic recombination. The resulting blocks are delineated by so called junctions, which accumulate with every generation that passes. Modeling the accumulation of ancestry block junctions can elucidate processes and timeframes of genomic admixture. Previous models have not addressed ancestry block dynamics for chromosomes that consist of a finite number of recombination sites. However, genomic data typically consist of informative markers that are interspersed with fragments for which no ancestry information is available. Hence, repeated recombination events may occur between markers, effectively removing existing junctions. Here, we present an analytical treatment of the dynamics of the mean number of junctions over time, taking into account the number of recombination sites per chromosome, population size, genetic map length, and the frequency of the ancestral species in the founding hybrid swarm. We describe the expected number of junctions using equidistant molecular markers and estimate the number of junctions using random markers. This extended theory of junctions thus reflects properties of empirical data and can serve to study the genomic patterns following admixture.