GenAlEx 6.5: genetic analysis in Excel. Population genetic software for teaching and research—an update

TLDR

GenAlEx is a cross‑platform Excel add‑in that performs a wide range of population‑genetic analyses on diploid, haploid, binary loci and DNA sequences, including frequency‑based and distance‑based methods. The update adds new estimators of population structure (G'(ST), G''(ST), Jost's D, F'(ST)), Shannon information analysis, linkage disequilibrium analysis for biallelic data, and novel heterogeneity tests for spatial autocorrelation. Implemented in VBA as an Excel add‑in, GenAlEx supports export to more than 30 formats and includes expanded tutorials and a fully revised guide. GenAlEx and its documentation are freely available online at http://biology.anu.edu.au/GenAlEx.

Abstract

GenAlEx: Genetic Analysis in Excel is a cross-platform package for population genetic analyses that runs within Microsoft Excel. GenAlEx offers analysis of diploid codominant, haploid and binary genetic loci and DNA sequences. Both frequency-based (F-statistics, heterozygosity, HWE, population assignment, relatedness) and distance-based (AMOVA, PCoA, Mantel tests, multivariate spatial autocorrelation) analyses are provided. New features include calculation of new estimators of population structure: G'(ST), G''(ST), Jost's D(est) and F'(ST) through AMOVA, Shannon Information analysis, linkage disequilibrium analysis for biallelic data and novel heterogeneity tests for spatial autocorrelation analysis. Export to more than 30 other data formats is provided. Teaching tutorials and expanded step-by-step output options are included. The comprehensive guide has been fully revised.GenAlEx is written in VBA and provided as a Microsoft Excel Add-in (compatible with Excel 2003, 2007, 2010 on PC; Excel 2004, 2011 on Macintosh). GenAlEx, and supporting documentation and tutorials are freely available at: http://biology.anu.edu.au/[e-mail].