scholarly journals Experimental Evolution of a Pheromone Signal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Blankers ◽  
Elise Fruitet ◽  
Emily Burdfield-Steel ◽  
Astrid T. Groot

ABSTRACTSexual signals are important in speciation, but understanding their evolution is complex as these signals are often composed of multiple, genetically interdependent components. To understand how signals evolve, we thus need to consider selection responses in multiple components and account for the genetic correlations among components. One intriguing possibility is that selection changes genetic correlations between components under selection and those not under selection, reducing evolutionary constraints. However, this hypothesis remains largely untested empirically. In this study, we investigate the evolutionary response of the multi-component female sex pheromone blend of the moth Heliothis subflexa to 10 generations of artificial selection. We observed a selection response of about 3/4s of a phenotypic standard deviation in the components under selection. Interestingly, other pheromone components that are biochemically and genetically linked to the components under selection did not change. We found that this component-specific selection response was likely facilitated due to reduced genetic coupling between the component under selection and the components not under selection, resulting from changes in genetic covariances within the 10 generations of selection. Our findings provide rare empirical support for an intriguing mechanism by which a sexual signal can respond to selection without possible constraints from indirect selection responses.SUMMARY STATEMENTThis study reveals a mechanism that can facilitate evolution of sex pheromone components under selection independent of other components of the sex pheromone that are not under selection.

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio Napolis Costa

Heterogeneity of variance in Brazilian herd environments was studied using first-lactation 305-day mature equivalent (ME) milk and fat records of Holstein cows. Herds were divided into two categories, according to low or high herd-year phenotypic standard deviation for ME milk (HYSD). There were 330 sires with daughter records in both HYSD categories. Components of (co)variance, heritability, and genetic correlations for milk and fat yields were estimated using a sire model from bivariate analyses with a restricted maximum likelihood (REML) derivative-free algorithm. Sire and residual variances for milk yield in low HYSD herds were 79 and 57% of those obtained in high HYSD herd. For fat yield they were 67 and 60%, respectively. Heritabilities for milk and fat yields in low HYSD herds were larger (0.30 and 0.22) than in high HYSD herds (0.23 and 0.20). Genetic correlation between expression in low and high HYSD herds was 0.997 for milk yield and 0.985 for fat yield. Expected correlated response in low HYSD herds based on sires selected on half-sister information from high HYSD was 0.89 kg/kg for milk and 0.80 kg/kg for fat yield. Genetic evaluations in Brazil need to account for heterogeneity of variances to increase the accuracy of evaluations and the selection efficiency for milk and fat yields of Holstein cows. Selection response will be lower in low variance herds than in high variance herds because of reduced differences in daughter response and among breeding values of sires in low HYSD herds. Genetic investments in sire selection to improve production are more likely to be successful in high HYSD herds than in low HYSD Brazilian herds.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Fraimout ◽  
Zitong Li ◽  
Mikko Sillanpaa ◽  
Juha Merila

Heritable variation in traits under natural selection is a prerequisite for evolutionary response. While it is recognised that trait heritability may vary spatially and temporally depending under which environmental conditions traits are expressed, less is known about the possibility that genetic variance contributing to the expected selection response in a given trait may vary at different stages of ontogeny. Specifically, whether different loci underlie the expression of a trait throughout development - thus providing an additional source of variation for selection to act on - is unclear. Here we show that the heritability (h2) of body size, an important life history trait, remains constant across ontogeny in a stickleback fish. Nevertheless, both analyses of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and genetic correlations across ages show that different chromosomes/loci contribute to this heritability in different ontogenic time-points. This suggests that body size can respond to selection at different stages of ontogeny but that this response is determined by different loci at different points of development. Hence, this illustrates the notion that diverse genetic architectures may underline similar (expected) phenotypic outcomes, and that similar selection pressures may lead to genetically heterogeneous responses depending on what life stage selection is acting on.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (10) ◽  
pp. 1966
Author(s):  
Purna Kandel ◽  
Sylvie Vanderick ◽  
Marie-Laure Vanrobays ◽  
Hélène Soyeurt ◽  
Nicolas Gengler

Methane (CH4) emission is an important environmental trait in dairy cows. Breeding aiming to mitigate CH4 emissions require the estimation of genetic correlations with other economically important traits and the prediction of their selection response. In this study, test-day CH4 emissions were predicted from milk mid-infrared spectra of Holstein cows. Predicted CH4 emissions (PME) and log-transformed CH4 intensity (LMI) computed as the natural logarithm of PME divided by milk yield (MY). Genetic correlations of PME and LMI with traits used currently were approximated from correlations between estimated breeding values of sires. Values were for PME with MY 0.06, fat yield (FY) 0.09, protein yield (PY) 0.13, fertility 0.17; body condition score (BCS) –0.02; udder health (UDH) 0.22; and longevity 0.22. As expected by its definition, values were negative for LMI with production traits (MY –0.61; FY –0.15 and PY –0.40) and positive with fertility (0.36); BCS (0.20); UDH (0.08) and longevity (0.06). The genetic correlations of 33 type traits with PME ranged from –0.12 to 0.25 and for LMI ranged from –0.22 to 0.18. Without selecting PME and LMI (status quo) the relative genetic change through correlated responses of other traits were in PME by 2% and in LMI by –15%, but only due to the correlated response to MY. Results showed for PME that direct selection of this environmental trait would reduce milk carbon foot print but would also affect negatively fertility. Therefore, more profound changes in current indexes will be required than simply adding environmental traits as these traits also affect the expected progress of other traits.


ChemBioChem ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1047-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Brabcová ◽  
Zuzana Demianová ◽  
Jiří Kindl ◽  
Iva Pichová ◽  
Irena Valterová ◽  
...  

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. El-Sayed ◽  
A. R. Gibb ◽  
D. M. Suckling ◽  
B. Bunn ◽  
S. Fielder ◽  
...  

1987 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 631-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jürgen Bestmann ◽  
Athula B. Attygalle ◽  
Thorolf Brosche ◽  
Joachim Erler ◽  
Hans Platz ◽  
...  

Abstract By means of electroantennography and single cell recordings, GC and GCMS analyses and GC analysis with EAG detection (6E,11 Z)-6,11-hexadecadienal, (6E,11 Z)-6,11-hexadecadienyl acetate and (4E,9Z)-4,9-tetradecadienyl acetate were identified as the primary components of the sex pheromone of female Antheraea pernyi (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae).


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