Some Estimators of Molecular Polymorphism and their Asymptotic Behavior

Important aspects of population evolution have been investigated using nucleotide sequences. The quantity µ, representing the mean number of mutations per gene per generation, is an essential parameter in population evolution studies, since it determines the degree of polymorphism in a locus. Inferences about the evolution of a population are measured by the accuracy of estimation of this parameter. In this article we present various methods of estimation of µ, analytical studies of their asymptotic distributions as well as comparisons of the distribution’s behavior of these estimators through simulations.