Some genetic systems frequently present ambiguous data that cannot be straightforwardly analyzed with common methods of population genetics. Two possibilities arise to analyze such data: one is the arbitrary simplification of the data and the other is the development of methods adapted to such ambiguous data. In this article, we present an attempt at such a development, the uniformat grammar and The gene[rate] tools, highlighting the specific aspects and the adaptations required to analyze ambiguous nominal data in population genetics.
Keywords: EM algorithm; Hardy-Weinberg; ambiguous genetic data; data manipulation; frequency estimation; linkage disequilibrium.