A Computer Simulation Study of the Influence of Imprinting on Population Structure

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Abstract
A model is presented to determine the effects of absolute imprinting on population structure when individuals will only select mates the same color as their parents. Under these conditions, only the trivial equilibria can result in which 1 allele is eliminated and the population becomes homozygous for the alternative color allele or in which the population is subdivided into 2 moieties, each moiety being homozygous for 1 of the color alleles and between which there is no gene flow. Therefore, imprinting can act as a powerful sympatric speciation mechanism. When imprinting is partial, it can act as a mechanism, independent of heterosis, to establish a balanced polymorphism in a population.