RClone: a package to identify MultiLocus Clonal Lineages and handle clonal datasets in R

Partially clonal species are common in the Tree of Life. And yet, population genetics models still mostly focus on the extremes: strictly sexual versus purely asexual reproduction. Here we present an R package built upon GenClone software including new functions and several improvements. The RClone package includes functions to handle clonal datasets, allowing (i) checking for dataset reliability to discriminate multi-locus genotypes (MLG), (ii) ascertainment of MLG and semi-automatic determination of clonal lineages (MLL), (iii) genotypic richness and evenness indices calculation based on MLGs or MLLs, and (iv) describing several spatial components of clonality. RClone allows the one shot analysis of multi-population datasets without size limitation, suitable for datasets now increasingly produced through Next Generation Sequencing. A major improvement compared to existing software is the ability to determine the threshold to cluster similar MLGs into MLLs, based on implemented simulat...