scholarly journals Genotype-environment interaction and the maintenance of genetic variation: an empirical study of Lobelia inflata (Campanulaceae)

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 191720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Côté ◽  
Andrew M. Simons
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Balancing Selection ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Heterozygote Advantage ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Fluctuating Selection ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Genotype Environment Interaction ◽  
Lobelia Inflata

High levels of genetic variation are often observed in natural populations, suggesting the action of processes such as frequency-dependent selection, heterozygote advantage and variable selection. However, the maintenance of genetic variation in fitness-related traits remains incompletely explained. The extent of genetic variation in obligately self-fertilizing populations of Lobelia inflata (Campanulaceae L.) strongly implies balancing selection. Lobelia inflata thus offers an exceptional opportunity for an empirical test of genotype-environment interaction (G × E) as a variance-maintaining mechanism under fluctuating selection: L. inflata is monocarpic and reproduces only by seed, facilitating assessment of lifetime fitness; genome-wide homozygosity precludes some mechanisms of balancing selection, and microsatellites are, in effect, genotypic lineage markers. Here, we find support for the temporal G × E hypothesis using a manipulated space-for-time approach across four environments: a field environment, an outdoor experimental plot and two differing growth-chamber environments. High genetic variance was confirmed: 83 field-collected individuals consisted of 45 distinct microsatellite lineages with, on average, 4.5 alleles per locus. Rank-order fitness, measured as lifetime fruit production in 16 replicated multilocus genotypes, changed significantly across environments. Phenotypic differences among microsatellite lineages were detected. Results thus support the G × E hypothesis in principle. However, the evaluation of the effect size of this mechanism and fitness effects of life-history traits will require a long-term study of fluctuating selection on labelled genotypes in the field.

scholarly journals Multiple layers of cryptic genetic variation underlie a yeast complex trait

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan T Lee ◽  
Alessandro L V Coradini ◽  
Amy Shen ◽  
Ian M Ehrenreich
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Complex Trait ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Coding Region ◽  
Cryptic Genetic Variation ◽  
Genotype Environment Interaction ◽  
Genetic Perturbations ◽  
In Cis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Surface Gene

Cryptic genetic variation may be an important contributor to heritable traits, but its extent and regulation are not fully understood. Here, we investigate the cryptic genetic variation underlying a Saccharomyces cerevisiae colony phenotype that is typically suppressed in a cross of the lab strain BY4716 (BY) and a derivative of the clinical isolate 322134S (3S). To do this, we comprehensively map the trait's genetic basis in the BYx3S cross in the presence of three different genetic perturbations that enable its expression. This allows us to detect and compare the specific loci harboring cryptic genetic variants that interact with each perturbation. In total, we identify 21 loci, all but one of which interacts with just a subset of the perturbations. Beyond impacting which loci contribute to the trait, the genetic perturbations also influence the extent of additivity, epistasis, and genotype-environment interaction among the detected loci. Additionally, we show that the single locus interacting with all three perturbations corresponds to the coding region of the cell surface gene FLO11. Nearly all of the other loci influence FLO11 transcription in cis or trans. However, the perturbations reveal cryptic genetic variation in different pathways and sub-pathways upstream of FLO11, suggesting that multiple layers of cryptic genetic variation with highly contextual effects underlie the trait. Our work demonstrates an abundance of cryptic genetic variation in transcriptional regulation and illustrates how this cryptic genetic variation complicates efforts to study the relationship between genotype and phenotype.

Detection and estimation of components of genetic variation and genotype × environment interaction in three wheat crosses

1984 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Singh ◽  
M. S. Dahiya
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Grain Yield ◽  
Plant Height ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Gene Effects ◽  
Genotype Environment Interaction ◽  
Additive Component ◽  
Spike Number ◽  
Additive Gene ◽  
1000 Grain Weight

SummaryThe data obtained from 360 progeny families produced by crossing 40 F2 plants from each of three wheat crosses HD 2009 × HD 1949, Raj 821 × WH 147 and NP 876 × HD 1949, to three testers (the testers being the two parents of each original cross and their F1 in each case) were subjected to triple test cross analysis for detecting and estimating additive, dominance and epistatic components of genetic variation and interaction of these components with environment for plant height, spike length, number of tillers per plant, number of spikelets per spike, number of grains per spike, 1000-grain weight, number of days from sowing to heading and to maturity, grain yield per plant and grain yield/above ground dry matter ratio (harvest index). Epistasis was an important element for plant height, number of tillers per plant, number of grains per spike and grain yield per plant in all three crosses. Both the i type and j and l type epistasis were equally important. In general, the magnitude of additive component was larger than that of dominance component. The additive gene effects were more sensitive to environmental change than the dominance gene effects. Similarly, j and l type epistasis was relatively more sensitive to environment than the i type epistasis.

scholarly journals Genotype-Environment Interaction at Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Sensory Bristle Number in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 1883-1898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie C Gurganus ◽  
James D Fry ◽  
Sergey V Nuzhdin ◽  
Elena G Pasyukova ◽  
Richard F Lyman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Quantitative Trait Loci ◽  
Quantitative Trait ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Recombinant Inbred Lines ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Genotype Environment Interaction ◽  
Bristle Number ◽  
A Genome ◽  
Trait Loci

AbstractThe magnitude of segregating variation for bristle number in Drosophila melanogaster exceeds that predicted from models of mutation-selection balance. To evaluate the hypothesis that genotype-environment interaction (GEI) maintains variation for bristle number in nature, we quantified the extent of GEI for abdominal and sternopleural bristles among 98 recombinant inbred lines, derived from two homozygous laboratory strains, in three temperature environments. There was considerable GEI for both bristle traits, which was mainly attributable to changes in rank order of line means. We conducted a genome-wide screen for quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting bristle number in each sex and temperature environment, using a dense (3.2-cM) marker map of polymorphic insertion sites of roo transposable elements. Nine sternopleural and 11 abdominal bristle number QTLs were detected. Significant GEI was exhibited by 14 QTLs, but there was heterogeneity among QTLs in their sensitivity to thermal and sexual environments. To further evaluate the hypothesis that GEI maintains variation for bristle number, we require estimates of allelic effects across environments at genetic loci affecting the traits. This level of resolution may be achievable for Drosophila bristle number because candidate loci affecting bristle development often map to the same location as bristle number QTLs.

Genetic Variation and Causes of Genotype-Environment Interaction in the Body Size of Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus)

Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 148 (3) ◽  
pp. 1233-1244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juha Merilä ◽  
James D Fry
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variation ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
The Body ◽  
Environment Interaction ◽  
Parus Caeruleus ◽  
Genotype Environment Interaction ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Good Environment

Abstract In several studies of natural populations of birds, the heritability of body size estimated by parent-offspring regression has been lower when offspring have developed in poor feeding regimens than when they developed in good feeding regimens. This has led to the suggestion that adaptation under poor regimens may be constrained by lack of genetic variation. We examined the influence of environmental conditions on expression of genetic variation in body size of nestling blue tits (Parus caeruleus) by raising full sibs in artificially reduced and enlarged broods, corresponding to good and poor feeding regimens, respectively. Individuals grown in the poor regimen attained smaller body size than their sibs grown in the good regimen. However, there was among-family variation in response to the treatments—i.e., genotype-environment interactions (GEIs). Partitioning the GEI variance into contributions attributable to (1) differences in the among-family genetic variance between the treatments and (2) imperfect correlation of genotypic values across treatments identified the latter as the main cause of the GEI. Parent-offspring regressions were not significantly different when offspring were reared in the good environment (h2 = 0.75) vs. when they were reared in the poor environment (h2 = 0.63). Thus, there was little evidence that genetic variance in body size was lower under the poor conditions than under the good conditions. These results do not support the view that the genetic potential for adaptation to poor feeding conditions is less than that for adaptation to good conditions, but they do suggest that different genotypes may be favored under the different conditions.

scholarly journals Contemporary evolution of the viral-sensing TLR3 gene in an isolated vertebrate population

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charli Davies ◽  
Martin Taylor ◽  
Martijn Hammers ◽  
Terry Burke ◽  
J Komdeur ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Selection ◽  
Balancing Selection ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Lifetime Reproductive Success ◽  
Heterozygote Advantage ◽  
Contemporary Evolution ◽  
Fluctuating Selection ◽  
Functional Variation ◽  
Evolutionary Forces ◽  
Tlr3 Gene

Understanding where and how genetic variation is maintained within populations is important from an evolutionary and conservation perspective. Signatures of past selection suggest that pathogen-mediated balancing selection is a key driver of immunogenetic variation, but studies tracking contemporary evolution are needed to help resolve the evolutionary forces and mechanism at play. Previous work in a bottlenecked population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) show that functional variation has been maintained at the viral-sensing Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) gene. Here, we characterise evolution at this TLR3 locus over a 25-year period within the original remnant population of the Seychelles warbler, and in four other derived, contained populations. Results show a significant and consistent temporal decline in the frequency of the TLR3C allele in the original population, and that similar declines in the TLR3C allele frequency occurred in all the derived populations. Individuals (of both sexes) with the TLR3CC genotype had lower survival, and males - but not females - that carry the TLR3C allele had significantly lower lifetime reproductive success than those with only the TLR3A allele. These results indicate that positive selection, caused by an as yet unknown agent, is driving TLR3 evolution in the Seychelles warblers. No evidence of heterozygote advantage was detected. However, whether the positive selection observed is part of a longer-term pattern of balancing selection (through fluctuating selection or rare-allele advantage) cannot be resolved without tracking the TLR3C allele in the populations over an extended period of time.

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