Inferring admixture proportions from molecular data: extension to any number of parental populations

The relative contribution of two parental populations to a hybrid group (the admixture proportions) can be estimated using not only the frequencies of different alleles, but also the degree of molecular divergence between them. In this paper, we extend this possibility to the case of any number of parental populations. The newly derived multiparental estimator is tested by Monte Carlo simulations and by generating artificial hybrid groups by pooling mtDNA samples from human populations. The general properties (including the variance) of the two-parental estimator seem to be retained by the multiparental estimator. When mixed human populations are considered and hypervariable single-locus data are analyzed (mtDNA control region), errors in the estimated contributions appear reasonably low only when highly differentiated parental populations are involved. Finally, the method applied to the hybrid Canary Island population points to a much lower female contribution from Spain than has previously been estimated.