The Effect of Mating Patterns on Models of Genealogical Trees: Genetic Inplicatiobns

In the present study an investigation of the spread of tags, symbolic or biological, from ancestors to descendants under a model of sexual reproduction was carried out. The main issue was to examine the effects of various modes of mating on the dissemination of the tags in future generations. In the first part of the study the total population was divided into subgroups outlined by symbolic borders (geographical or socio-cultural), and different degrees of preferential (selective) mating was modeled theoretically and by simulation. It has been shown that selective mating by way of semi-segregation substantially delayed the dissemination of the tagging in future generations. In the second part simulation studies of the transmission of founder mutations under several degrees of assortative mating was performed, and compared to real data of carrier frequencies obtained from a population of an Israeli Muslim Arab village. It has been shown that the high carrier frequency of FMF in the village could be explained by a relatively high factor of selective mating which caused strong consanguinity among its inhabitants