Fit probability law on genes length distribution

Question

[Florian Plaza Oñate]

Hi, I am trying to fit a probability law on this distribution representing the genes length of E. rectale. I have tried to fit a skew normal distribution on it (in red) Do you think this is the most appropriate law? Thanks in advance.

[Devon Ryan]

Try plotting the log(length).

Answer 1

[Steven Lakin]

You may want to try an overdispersed Poisson distribution or the negative binomial. For a variety of reasons, these distributions tend to fit biological data well in cases of discrete counts (length can likely be modeled this way with success). Distribution choice largely depends on what you intend to model.