As far as I'm aware, Nei's genetic distance is quite old compared to $F_{ST}$. However, I have recently read more papers that utilized Nei's genetic distance alongside with $F_{ST}$. As I'm not very familiar with Nei, what are some advantages it has over $F_{ST}$?

Does Nei's genetic distance suffer from ascertainment bias?

  • $\begingroup$ What do you call Nei's genetic distance? Do you refer to $D_{XY}$ or maybe to $G_{ST}$ or something else? $\endgroup$ – Remi.b Aug 5 '18 at 14:20
  • $\begingroup$ A note about formating: $F_{ST}$ gives $F_{ST}$. $D_{XY}$ gives $D_{XY}$. $\endgroup$ – Remi.b Aug 5 '18 at 14:21
  • $\begingroup$ Nei was born about the same time as $F_{ST}$ was first defined by Wright. So, Nei's genetic distance (whatever this is referring to) cannot be older than $F_{ST}$. $\endgroup$ – Remi.b Aug 5 '18 at 14:24
  • $\begingroup$ Apologies, but Nei's genetic distance in this case refers to $D_{XY}$. Thanks. Nei's $D_{XY}$ might be newer than $F_{ST}$, however there have been more extensive uses and research on $F_{ST}$ to address its shortcoming. To this date, I'm wondering how Nei's $D_{XY}$ compare to the current $F_{ST}$. $\endgroup$ – Rudy Winono Aug 5 '18 at 23:25
  • $\begingroup$ The question's interesting but it will be very hard to offer a general answer. They are two different measures of genetic distance. $F_{ST}$ is better known, more studied and is more closely related with the population genetic theory than $D_{XY}$. Depending on the question of interest you might want to use one or the other. Many authors now recommend computing both to get a better picture of the genetic distances. Note that there are many other related statistics such as $\pi_S$, $\pi_B$, $G_{ST}$, $G_{ST}'$, $G_{ST}''$, $\theta$ (I mean Weir and Cockerham estimator of $F_{ST}$) and $Jost'D$. $\endgroup$ – Remi.b Aug 6 '18 at 0:32

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