Bisexual branching processes in a genetic context: Rates of growth for Y-linked genes

A multitype bisexual branching process is considered to model the behaviour of a Y-linked gene with two genotypes in a two-sex population. It is assumed perfect fidelity mating with preference of females for the males carrying certain allele of the gene. Under these assumptions, we study the rate of growth of each genotype on the event of non-extinction. The rate of growth of a genotype may depend on whether the other survives or becomes extinct and, in general, both genotype frequencies grow at different rates. We also investigate conditions for the simultaneous explosion of both genotypes to have positive or zero probability. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.