Discussion
In this study, we introduced a general statistical method for estimating the nuclear proportion of DNA inserts of extranuclear origin. We validated this method by re-estimating the nuclear proportion of NUMTs in humans and then analysed data from the grasshopper P. pedestris and the parrot P. varius . Because the grasshopper and parrot datasets each contained individuals from two diverged populations, we were able to obtain an additional estimate of NUMT abundance. After discussing our results, we will address the robustness and utility of our methods.