scholarly journals LONG-TERM SELECTION RESPONSE FOR 12-DAY LITTER WEIGHT IN MICE

Genetics ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-142
Author(s):  
E J Eisen

ABSTRACT Long-term selection for increased 12-day litter weight in two replicate lines (W2, W3) of mice resulted in an apparent selection limit at about 17 generations. Quadratic polynomial and exponential models were fitted to the data in order to estimate the plateaued response and half-life of the selection process. Using the polynomial results, the half-life estimates were 4.5 and 8.6 generations for W2 and W3, respectively. The plateaued responses were 5.1 and 5.8 g which, when expressed in phenotypic standard deviation units, became 1.1 and 1.3. The exponential model provides similar estimates. A negative association between 12-day litter weight and fitness was not considered to be an adequate explanation for the plateau since there was no decrease in fertility of the selected lines. Evidence that exhaustion of genetic variability was not the cause of the plateau came from the immediate response to reverse selection. It was proposed that the plateau may be due to a negative genetic correlation between direct and maternal genetic effects, which would be expected to occur after many generations of selection. There were positive correlated responses in both replicates for adult body weight, which was in agreement with the positive genetic correlation between preweaning and postweaning body weight. The expected positive correlated response for number born was realized in only one of the replicates.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanjun Zan ◽  
Zheya Sheng ◽  
Lars Rönnegård ◽  
Christa F. Honaker ◽  
Paul B. Siegel ◽  
...  

AbstractThe ability of a population to adapt to changes in their living conditions, whether in nature or captivity, often depends on polymorphisms in multiple genes across the genome. In-depth studies of such polygenic adaptations are difficult in natural populations, but can be approached using the resources provided by artificial selection experiments. Here, we dissect the genetic mechanisms involved in long-term selection responses of the Virginia chicken lines, populations that after 40 generations of divergent selection for 56-day body weight display a nine-fold difference in the selected trait. In the F15 generation of an intercross between the divergent lines, 20 loci explained more than 60% of the additive genetic variance for the selected trait. We focused particularly on seven major QTL and found that only two fine-mapped to single, bi-allelic loci; the other five contained linked loci, multiple alleles or were epistatic. This detailed dissection of the polygenic adaptations in the Virginia lines provides a deeper understanding of genome-wide mechanisms involved in the long-term selection responses. The results illustrate that long-term selection responses, even from populations with a limited genetic diversity, can be polygenic and influenced by a range of genetic mechanisms.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUTZ BÜNGER ◽  
HELEN WALLACE ◽  
JOHN O. BISHOP ◽  
IAN M. HASTINGS ◽  
WILLIAM G. HILL

A study was undertaken to test whether the elimination of metabolic pathways strongly involved in growth and fatness, comprising thyroid hormones (TH) and growth hormone (GH), is responsible for a substantial part of the genetic change produced by selection. Lines used in this study have been selected for about 50 generations for high (PH) and low (PL) body weight at 10 weeks and for high (F) and low fat content (L) at 14 weeks, producing a 3-fold difference in body weights and a 5-fold difference in fat content. Thyroid ablation was achieved by repeated backcrossing into the four selection lines of a transgene comprising the HSV1-tk gene coupled to the promoter of the thyroglobulin gene. Hemizygous pregnant dams were treated with ganciclovir leading to thyroid-ablated dams and offspring and therefore to a lack of TH and subsequently of GH. In the absence of TH and GH, lines still differ in body weight over the period studied (10 d to about 100 d; e.g. at the end PH=32·1 g vs PL=10·2 g) and in fat content (F=16·2% vs L=3·8%) ; the corresponding values for the wild-type controls were PH=49·9 g vs PL=17·4 g and F=27·5% vs L=4·8%. The effect of the transgene depended on the genetic background for body weights at most ages and for relative gonadal fat pad weights, but less for fat content. The L line showed the lowest growth depression. The lit gene, which causes GH but not TH deficiency, was also transferred by repeated backcrosses into three of these lines (PH, PL, F). The combined deficiency of TH and GH had bigger effects on body weights at earlier ages than did GH deprivation. The data show that changes in the TH- and GH-systems are not the only cause of line differences in growth and fatness resulting from long-term selection, but both are involved to a significant extent. The interactions between the effects of the transgene and of the lit gene and the genetic background were, nevertheless, relatively small and therefore these results support a polygenic model of selection response.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUTZ BÜNGER ◽  
ULLA RENNE ◽  
GERHARD DIETL ◽  
SIEGFRIED KUHLA

Based on the outbred mouse strain Fzt: Du, which has been obtained by systematic crossing of four inbred and four outbred lines, a long-term selection experiment was carried out for total protein amount (PA) in the carcass, starting in 1975. An unselected control line (CO) was kept under the same management but without continuous protein analysis. The protein amount of male carcasses at 42 days of age (P42) increased from 2·9 g in generation 0 to 5·2 g at generation 70, representing 97% of a theoretical selection limit. The total selection response amounts to 2·3 g, which is about 80% above the initial value and corresponds to 9σp or 12σA . The estimated realized heritability of protein amount decreased from 0·56 to 0·03 at generation 70, which was due to an increase in phenotypic variance from 0·065 to 0·24 g2 and a reduction in genetic variance from 0·04 to 0·01 g2. Half the selection response was obtained after about 18 to 23 generations, a half-life of 0·25 to 0·3 Ne. The maximum selection response was 0·094 g/generation and the response was 0·01 g/generation at generation 70. The measurements of body weights at 0, 10, 21, 42 and 63 days throughout the experiment showed a strong correlated effect for all weights. The PA mice are one of the heaviest lines of mice ever reported, and do not differ significantly in their body composition from control mice at 42 days. The direct selection response was due primarily to increased general growth. Body weight and protein amount are phenotypically and genetically highly correlated (rp=0·82, rA≈1); however, selection for body weight led to fatter animals, whereas selection for protein opposed increased fatness (at least until selection age). This may be of general importance in animal breeding. The comparatively high selection response in this experiment seems due to the heterogeneity of the base population, the relatively high effective population size, and the duration of the experiment.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaretha Snyman ◽  
Sunika Süllwald ◽  
Willem Olivier ◽  
Carina Visser

Abstract Background: Reproductive performance and body weight are of the utmost economic importance in determining the efficiency of sheep production. Simultaneous selection for increased reproductive performance and early growth traits is a common strategy in many flocks, but ambiguous results regarding the relationship between reproduction and body weight have been reported. The objective of this study was to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in two South African Merino flocks and an Afrino sheep flock that were selected for both reproduction and body weight over decades. The GWAS aimed to identify SNPs associated with genes affecting the traits number of lambs born (NLB), number of lambs weaned (NLW), total weight of lamb weaned (TWW) and body weight (BW) and thus to ascertain which genes were targeted through directional selection.Results: In the GWAS, 16 SNP markers associated with reproductive traits were identified among the three populations, while 15 SNPs were associated with body weight. These SNPs were linked respectively to 26 and 21 documented genes in the sheep genome. Most of these genes were previously associated in literature with reproduction related, as well as with growth related traits in various farm animal species. This study, supported by results from previous studies performed on sheep and cattle, identified the following genes that warrant further investigation as to their functions and processes relating to growth and reproduction in sheep: MAP7D1, TRAPPC3, THRAP3, TRMP8, SPP2, HDAC9, ZFHX3, SIX6, C14orf39, TAF4B, TRSP1 EYA2, RBMS3, STL38L, BSPH1, LIG1, CABP5 and ELSPBP1. Conclusions: Long-term selection in the flocks for both body weight and reproductive traits, and especially on the composite trait TWW, have favoured genes with pleiotropic effects influencing both groups of traits. SNPs associated with these pleiotropic genes were detected in the association analyses for the various traits.


Author(s):  
Bruce Walsh ◽  
Michael Lynch

The breeder's equation often fails when applied to natural populations. In large part, this likely occurs because the assumed trait is not the actual target of selection. A within-generation change in the mean of a suggested target trait can arise as a correlated response from selection acting elsewhere. This chapter examines sources of error in the breeder's equation and approaches that attempt to determine if an assumed trait is actually the true target of selection. It also reviews a number of long-term studies from natural populations and examines possible sources for the failure of most of these studies to conform to the expectations of the breeder's equation.


Genetics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 213 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman A. Mulder ◽  
Sang Hong Lee ◽  
Sam Clark ◽  
Ben J. Hayes ◽  
Julius H. J. van der Werf

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