Influence of Mom and Dad: Quantitative Genetic Models for Maternal Effects and Genomic Imprinting

Abstract Standard genetic analyses assume that reciprocal heterozygotes are, on average, phenotypically identical. If a locus is subject to genomic imprinting, however, this assumption does not hold. We incorporate imprinting into the standard quantitative-genetic model for two alleles at a single locus, deriving expressions for the additive and dominance components of genetic variance, as well as measures of resemblance among relatives. We show that, in contrast to the case with Mendelian expression, the additive and dominance deviations are correlated. In principle, this correlation allows imprinting to be detected solely on the basis of different measures of familial resemblances, but in practice, the standard error of the estimate is likely to be too large for a test to have much statistical power. The effects of genomic imprinting will need to be incorporated into quantitative-genetic models of many traits, for example, those concerned with mammalian birthweight.

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Quantitative Genetic Models of Sexual Conflict Based on Interacting Phenotypes

The American Naturalist ◽

10.1086/429354 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 165 (S5) ◽

pp. S88-S97 ◽

Cited By ~ 56

Author(s):

Allen J. Moore ◽

Tommaso Pizzari

Keyword(s):

Sexual Conflict ◽

Genetic Models ◽

Quantitative Genetic ◽

Interacting Phenotypes

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Quantitative genetics and the evolution of ontogeny: I. Ontogenetic changes in quantitative genetic variance components in randombred mice

Genetics Research ◽

10.1017/s0016672300021492 ◽

1983 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 65-75 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

James M. Cheverud ◽

Larry J. Leamy ◽

William R. Atchley ◽

J. J. Rutledge

Keyword(s):

Maternal Effects ◽

Environmental Effects ◽

Variance Components ◽

Genetic Variance ◽

Tail Length ◽

Head Length ◽

Ontogenetic Changes ◽

Trunk Length ◽

Quantitative Genetic ◽

Significant Difference

SUMMARYWe report the results of an ontogenetic analysis of quantitative genetic variance components with two replicates drawn from the randombred ICR strain of mice. A total of 432 mice from 108 full-sib families raised in a cross-fostering design were used to estimate direct effects heritability, maternal effects, and environmental effects for weight, head length, trunk length, trunk circumference, and tail length at 17, 24, 31, 38, 45, 52, 59, and 66 days of age. There was no significant difference in heritability between the replicates. Heritabilities either stayed more or less constant with age at about 0·30 (weight, trunk length, trunk circumference) or increased slightly with age (head length, tail length). Maternal effects decreased with age from a maximum of about 0·50 at weaning to about 0·15 at age 66 when growth was nearly complete. Environmental effects increased in relative importance during ontogeny.

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