scholarly journals The genetic structure of female life history in D. melanogaster: comparisons among populations

2000 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
PHILIP M. SERVICE

Two questions were addressed: (1) What is the genetic variance–covariance structure of a suite of four female life history traits in D. melanogaster? and (2) Does the genetic architecture of these traits differ among populations? Three populations of D. melanogaster were studied. Genetic variances and covariances were estimated by sib analysis three times for each population: immediately upon establishment of populations in the laboratory, and subsequently after approximately 6 months and 2 years of laboratory culture. Entire genetic variance–covariance matrices, as well as their individual components, were compared between populations by means of likelihood ratio tests. All traits studied were significantly heritable in at least one-half of estimates. Despite large sample sizes, additive genetic covariances were for the most part not statistically significant, and only two significant negative covariance estimates were obtained throughout the experiments. Therefore, these experiments provide little support for evolutionary life history theories that are based on negative genetic correlations among life history components. Neither do they support the idea that genetic variance for fitness components is maintained by trade-offs. Evidence suggests that the G matrix of one population was initially different from those of the other two populations. Those differences disappeared after 2 years of laboratory culture. At the level of individual (co)variance components, there were relatively few differences among populations, and the overall impression was that the three populations had generally similar genetic architectures for the traits studied.

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory E. Blomquist

Trade-offs are central to life-history theory but difficult to document. Patterns of phenotypic and genetic correlations in rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta —a long-lived, slow-reproducing primate—are used to test for a trade-off between female age of first reproduction and adult survival. A strong positive genetic correlation indicates that female macaques suffer reduced adult survival when they mature relatively early and implies primate senescence can be explained, in part, by antagonistic pleiotropy. Contrasts with a similar human study implicate the extension of parental effects to later ages as a potential mechanism for circumventing female life-history trade-offs in human evolution.


2008 ◽  
Vol 98 (6) ◽  
pp. 543-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Vorburger ◽  
N. Ramsauer

AbstractA central paradigm of life-history theory is the existence of resource mediated trade-offs among different traits that contribute to fitness, yet observations inconsistent with this tenet are not uncommon. We previously found a clonal population of the aphid Myzus persicae to exhibit positive genetic correlations among major components of fitness, resulting in strong heritable fitness differences on a common host. This raises the question of how this genetic variation is maintained. One hypothesis states that variation for resource acquisition on different hosts may override variation for allocation, predicting strong fitness differences within hosts as a rule, but changes in fitness hierarchies across hosts due to trade-offs. Therefore, we carried out a life-table experiment with 17 clones of M. persicae, reared on three unrelated host plants: radish, common lambsquarters and black nightshade. We estimated the broad-sense heritabilities of six life-history traits on each host, the genetic correlations among traits within hosts, and the genetic correlations among traits on different hosts (cross-environment genetic correlations). The three plants represented radically different environments with strong effects on performance of M. persicae, yet we detected little evidence for trade-offs. Fitness components were positively correlated within hosts but also between the two more benign hosts (radish and lambsquarters), as well as between those and another host tested earlier. The comparison with the most stressful host, nightshade, was hampered by low survival. Survival on nightshade also exhibited genetic variation but was unrelated to fitness on other hosts. Acknowledging that the number of environments was necessarily limited in a quantitative genetic experiment, we suggest that the rather consistent fitness hierarchies across very different plants provided little evidence to support the idea that the clonal variation for life-history traits and their covariance structure are maintained by strong genotype×environment interactions with respect to hosts. Alternative explanations are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anik Dutta ◽  
Fanny E. Hartmann ◽  
Carolina Sardinha Francisco ◽  
Bruce A. McDonald ◽  
Daniel Croll

AbstractThe adaptive potential of pathogens in novel or heterogeneous environments underpins the risk of disease epidemics. Antagonistic pleiotropy or differential resource allocation among life-history traits can constrain pathogen adaptation. However, we lack understanding of how the genetic architecture of individual traits can generate trade-offs. Here, we report a large-scale study based on 145 global strains of the fungal wheat pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici from four continents. We measured 50 life-history traits, including virulence and reproduction on 12 different wheat hosts and growth responses to several abiotic stressors. To elucidate the genetic basis of adaptation, we used genome-wide association mapping coupled with genetic correlation analyses. We show that most traits are governed by polygenic architectures and are highly heritable suggesting that adaptation proceeds mainly through allele frequency shifts at many loci. We identified negative genetic correlations among traits related to host colonization and survival in stressful environments. Such genetic constraints indicate that pleiotropic effects could limit the pathogen’s ability to cause host damage. In contrast, adaptation to abiotic stress factors was likely facilitated by synergistic pleiotropy. Our study illustrates how comprehensive mapping of life-history trait architectures across diverse environments allows to predict evolutionary trajectories of pathogens confronted with environmental perturbations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 410-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Puangdee ◽  
M. Duangjinda ◽  
W. Boonkum ◽  
S. Buaban ◽  
S. Katawatin

The objective of this research was to investigate the optimum fat to protein ratio (FPR) in Thai tropical Holstein dairy cattle. First parity data consisting of 20 492 milk yields (MY) records for 24 891 cows for the period 2001 and 2011, were used in the analysis. The analysis used a random regression test-day animal model of third-order Legendre polynomials through the creation of a covariance function based on different FPRs. Variance components were estimated using the Bayesian method via the Gibbs sampling. The estimated heritability of MY in relation to FPR ranged from 0.19 to 0.27 with the pattern being similar to the genetic variances. Genetic correlations of MY at different FPRs were high at consecutive FPRs and then declined to negative in response to greater differences in FPR. Based on the results, it is concluded that the optimum FPR is in the range of 0.9 to 1.9, corresponding to the genetically controlled energy balance for MY in tropical Holsteins.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
WU Blanckenhorn ◽  
V Llaurens ◽  
C Reim ◽  
Y Teuschl ◽  
E Postma

SUMMARYThe evolutionary potential of organisms depends on the presence of sufficient genetic variation for traits subject to selection, as well as on the genetic covariances among them. While genetic variation ultimately derives from mutation, theory predicts the depletion of genetic (co)variation under consistent directional or stabilizing selection in natural populations. We estimated and compared additive genetic (co)variances for several standard life history traits, including some for which this has never been assessed, before and after 24 generations of artificial selection on male size in the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Diptera: Scathophagidae) using a series of standard half-sib breeding experiments. As predicted, genetic variances (VA), heritabilities (h2) and evolvabilities (IA) of body size, development time, first clutch size, and female age at first clutch were lower after selection. As independent selection lines were crossed prior to testing, we can rule out that this reduction is due to genetic drift. In contrast to the variances, and against expectation, the additive genetic correlations between the sexes for development time and body size remained strong and positive (rA = 0.8–0.9), while the genetic correlation between these traits within the sexes tended to strengthen (but not significantly so). Our study documents that the effect of selection on genetic variance is predictable, whereas that on genetic correlations is not.


2013 ◽  
Vol 62 (1-6) ◽  
pp. 173-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. S. Baltunis ◽  
J. H. Russell ◽  
A.Van Niejenhuis ◽  
J. Barker ◽  
Y. A. El-Kassaby

AbstractGenetic analysis of height and form at age 12 years of 697 yellow cypress (Callitropsis nootkatensis [D. Don] Oerst.) clones tested across seven sites in coastal British Columbia (BC) were explored in populations: Population 1 - No Pedigree and Population 2 - Reconstructed Pedigree. Genetic variances were statistically significant but generally higher σ̂g2was observed for Population 2. Height and form were under low to moderate genetic control as indicated by clonal repeatability and estimates were relatively similar between populations. For example, average Ĥ2in Population 2 was 0.31 for height (range: 0.18-0.45) and 0.22 for form (range: 0.06-0.32). While average Ĥ2in Population 1 was 0.25 for height (range: 0.19-0.35) and 0.18 for form (range: 0.09-0.27). The reconstructed pedigree in Population 2 allowed partitioning the genetic variance (σ̂g2) into component parts of additive (σ̂a2), specific combining ability (σ̂s2), and clone (σ̂c2); however, general lack of structure within the population resulted in variance components to be estimated with little precision for additive and specific combining ability. The majority of genetic variation was associated with clone for both traits. For example, σ̂c2accounted for 57.6% and 62.5% of the total genetic variance for height and form, respectively. Growth and form responses of clones across test environments were relatively stable and overall type-B genetic correlations were in excess of 0.8 for both traits implying clones selected for production populations should respond favorably across the seed planning zone for yellow cypress in coastal BC.


Genetics ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 111 (3) ◽  
pp. 579-595
Author(s):  
William R Atchley ◽  
A Alison Plummer ◽  
Bruce Riska

ABSTRACT The relationship between multidimensional form of the adult mouse mandible and body size is examined from an ontogenetic perspective. The origin and ontogeny of phenotypic correlations are described in terms of genetic and environmental covariance patterns between adult skeletal morphology and growth in body weight. Different ontogenetic patterns are observed in the genetic correlations, and these can be related to the developmental as well as the functional aspects of mandibular form. The quantitative genetic aspects of craniomandibular growth and morphogenesis are explored, together with an examination of the impact of ontogenetic changes in the genetic variance-covariance structure on morphogenetic integration and evolution by selection.


2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1864) ◽  
pp. 20171567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Santostefano ◽  
Alastair J. Wilson ◽  
Petri T. Niemelä ◽  
Niels J. Dingemanse

The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis predicts associations between life history and ‘risky’ behaviours. Individuals with ‘fast’ lifestyles should develop faster, reproduce earlier, exhibit more risk-prone behaviours, and die sooner than those with ‘slow’ lifestyles. While support for POLS has been equivocal to date, studies have relied on individual-level (phenotypic) patterns in which genetic trade-offs may be masked by environmental effects on phenotypes. We estimated genetic correlations between life history (development, lifespan, size) and risky behaviours (exploration, aggression) in a pedigreed population of Mediterranean field crickets ( Gryllus bimaculatus ). Path analyses showed that behaviours mediated some genetic relationships between life history traits, though not those involved in trade-offs. Thus, while specific predictions of POLS theory were not supported, genetic integration of behaviour and life history was present. This implies a major role for risky behaviours in life history evolution.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document