Robustness of the Ewens sampling formula
Paul Joyce · Journal of Applied Probability · 1995
Under the assumptions of the neutral infinite alleles model,K(the total number of alleles present in a sample) is sufficient for estimatingθ(the mutation rate). This is a direct result of the Ewens sampling formula, which gives a consistent, asymptotically normal estimator forθbased onK. It is shown that the same estimator used to estimateθunder neutrality is consistent and asymptotically normal, even when the assumption of selective neutrality is violated.