Table 3.
Estimated times (t95 and t50, in years) to the most recent common ancestor of the world populations of P. falciparum
| Assumption | Mutation rate (×10−9)
|
t95 | t50 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-fold (μa) | 2-fold (μb) | |||
| Plasmodium radiation | ||||
| 55 My | 7.12 | 2.22 | 24,511 | 5,670 |
| 129 My | 3.03 | 0.95 | 57,481 | 13,296 |
| falciparum–reichenowi | ||||
| 5 My | 3.78 | 1.86 | 38,136 | 8,821 |
| 7 My | 2.70 | 1.33 | 53,363 | 12,343 |
t95 gives the upper boundary of the 95% confidence interval of the estimate; t50 represents the estimated time above which the probability is greater than 50% of observing more variation than actually observed.