Additive Genetic Variation under Intraspecific Competition and Stabilizing Selection: A Two-Locus Study

2002 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reinhard Bürger
Genetics ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 130 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-227
Author(s):  
A Gimelfarb

Abstract It is demonstrated that systems of two pleiotropically related characters controlled by additive diallelic loci can maintain under Gaussian stabilizing selection a stable polymorphism in more than two loci. It is also shown that such systems may have multiple stable polymorphic equilibria. Stabilizing selection generates negative linkage disequilibrium, as a result of which the equilibrium phenotypic variances are quite low, even though the level of allelic polymorphisms can be very high. Consequently, large amounts of additive genetic variation can be hidden in populations at equilibrium under stabilizing selection on pleiotropically related characters.


Author(s):  
Bruce Walsh ◽  
Michael Lynch

One of the major unresolved issues in quantitative genetics is what accounts for the amount of standing genetic variation in traits. A wide range of models, all reviewed in this chapter, have been proposed, but none fit the data, either giving too much variation or too little apparent stabilizing selection.


1992 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 292-292
Author(s):  
Robert Titus

Species populations commonly carry a great deal of genetic variation which is not expressed in individual phenotypes. Cryptic variation can be carried in recessive alleles, in cases of heterosis, or where modifier genes inhibit expression of the hidden trait. Other genetic and ecological factors also allow cryptic variation. Stabilizing selection prevents the expression of hidden traits; normalizing selection weeds out the deviants and canalizing selection suppresses their traits. Together the two keep the species near the top of the adaptive peak. Cryptic variation balances a species' need to be well-adapted to its environment and also for it to maintain a reserve of variation for potential environmental change. Expression of cryptic traits is rare and is usually associated with times of greatly reduced natural selection and rapid population growth, when the lower slopes of the adaptive peak are exposed.A possible example of the manifestation of cryptic traits occurs within the lower Trentonian Rafinesquina lineage of New York State. The two most commonly reported species of the genus have been reappraised in terms of cryptic variation. Extensive collections of Rafinesquina “lennoxensis” reveal far more intergrading morphotypes than had hitherto been recognized. The form which Salmon (1942) described is broadly U-shaped with sulcate margins. It grades into very convex forms as well as sharply-defined or convexly geniculate types. Of great importance, all forms grade into the flat, U-shaped, alate R. trentonensis, which is, by far, the most common and widespread lower Trentonian member of the genus. The R. “lennoxensis” assemblage has a very narrow biostratigraphy, being confined to a few locations in the upper Napanee Limestone. This places it in a quiet, protected, low stress, lagoonal setting behind the barrier shoal facies of the Kings Falls Limestone.The R. “lennoxensis” assemblage does not constitute a natural biologic species; it is reinterpreted as an assemblage of phenodeviants occupying a low stress, low natural selection lagoon facies. All such forms should be included within R. trentonensis. Given the evolutionary plasticity of this genus, extensive cryptic variation is not surprising.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Noah DeWitt ◽  
Mohammed Guedira ◽  
Edwin Lauer ◽  
J. Paul Murphy ◽  
David Marshall ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Genetic variation in growth over the course of the season is a major source of grain yield variation in wheat, and for this reason variants controlling heading date and plant height are among the best-characterized in wheat genetics. While the major variants for these traits have been cloned, the importance of these variants in contributing to genetic variation for plant growth over time is not fully understood. Here we develop a biparental population segregating for major variants for both plant height and flowering time to characterize the genetic architecture of the traits and identify additional novel QTL. Results We find that additive genetic variation for both traits is almost entirely associated with major and moderate-effect QTL, including four novel heading date QTL and four novel plant height QTL. FT2 and Vrn-A3 are proposed as candidate genes underlying QTL on chromosomes 3A and 7A, while Rht8 is mapped to chromosome 2D. These mapped QTL also underlie genetic variation in a longitudinal analysis of plant growth over time. The oligogenic architecture of these traits is further demonstrated by the superior trait prediction accuracy of QTL-based prediction models compared to polygenic genomic selection models. Conclusions In a population constructed from two modern wheat cultivars adapted to the southeast U.S., almost all additive genetic variation in plant growth traits is associated with known major variants or novel moderate-effect QTL. Major transgressive segregation was observed in this population despite the similar plant height and heading date characters of the parental lines. This segregation is being driven primarily by a small number of mapped QTL, instead of by many small-effect, undetected QTL. As most breeding populations in the southeast U.S. segregate for known QTL for these traits, genetic variation in plant height and heading date in these populations likely emerges from similar combinations of major and moderate effect QTL. We can make more accurate and cost-effective prediction models by targeted genotyping of key SNPs.


2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 784-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Bonneaud ◽  
Janet S. Sinsheimer ◽  
Murielle Richard ◽  
Olivier Chastel ◽  
Gabriele Sorci

Genetic estimates of the variability of immune responses are rarely examined in natural populations because of confounding environmental effects. As a result, and because of the difficulty of pinpointing the genetic determinants of immunity, no study has to our knowledge examined the contribution of specific genes to the heritability of an immune response in wild populations. We cross-fostered nestling house sparrows to disrupt the association between genetic and environmental effects and determine the heritability of the response to a classic immunological test, the phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-induced skin swelling. We detected significant heritability estimates of the response to PHA, of body mass and tarsus length when nestlings were 5 and 10 days old. Variation at Mhc genes, however, did not explain a significant portion of the genetic variation of nestling swelling to PHA. Our results suggest that while PHA-induced swelling is influenced by the nest of origin, the importance of additive genetic variation relative to non-additive genetic variation and the genetic factors that influence the former in wild populations still need to be identified for this trait.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie A. Brick ◽  
Matthew C. Keller ◽  
Valerie S. Knopik ◽  
John E. McGeary ◽  
Rohan H.C. Palmer

1958 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 599 ◽  
Author(s):  
FHW Morley

Records were analysed of 500-day production, egg weight, 11-week and mature body weight, sex maturity, and broodiness of the crossbred progeny of inbred lines of Australorps mated to White Leghorns, and inbred lines of White Leghorns mated to Australorps. Clear differences between lines of both breeds mere found in most characters, indicating the presence of potentially useful amounts of additive genetic variation. Non-additive genetic variation was also found to be present in varying degrees in different characters. Because of the difficulties of developing and maintaining inbred stocks of poultry, and the importance of sex-linked characteristics in some commercial environments, a scheme is proposed which may enable heterosis to be exploited without the use of inbred material. The basis of this scheme is the combination of the White Leghorn sex chromosome, with varying proportions of Australorp and White Leghorn autosomes, in a new breed. Assuming that the heterosis observed in the F1 is due to elimination of certain biochemical blocks determined by recessive genes, the formation of the new breed should enable the methods of closed flock breeding to be used in material at a higher level of production, and likely to contain more genetic variability, than either parent breed.


Genetics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 717-725
Author(s):  
A Gimelfarb

ABSTRACT A model with two diallelic loci controlling two additive quantitative characters is suggested. One of the loci has a similar effect on both characters, whereas the second locus has an antagonistic effect on the two characters. Both characters experience direct stabilizing selection. The model yields a stable polymorphic state, with both characters maintaining genetic variation. The genetic correlation between the characters at the equilibrium is zero, in spite of the pleiotropic effects of the loci controlling them.


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