THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF GENERATIONS UNTIL FIXATION OF A MUTANT GENE IN A FINITE POPULATION

A mutant gene which appeared in a finite population will eventually either be lost from the population or fixed (established) in it. The mean time until either of these alternative events takes place was studied by WATTERSON (1962) and EWENS (1963). They made use of a method previously announced by DARL-ING and SIEGERT (1953), and, independently by FELLER (1954). Actually, DARL-ING and SIEGERT refer to its application to genetics.