Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/18806
Title: Heterogeneity of genetic architecture of body size traits in a free-living population
Contributor(s): Berenos, Camillo (author); Ellis, Philip A (author); Pilkington, Jill G (author); Lee, Sang Hong  (author); Gratten, Jake (author); Pemberton, Josephine M (author)
Publication Date: 2015
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1111/mec.13146Open Access Link
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/18806
Abstract: Knowledge of the underlying genetic architecture of quantitative traits could aid in understanding how they evolve. In wild populations, it is still largely unknown whether complex traits are polygenic or influenced by few loci with major effect, due to often small sample sizes and low resolution of marker panels. Here, we examine the genetic architecture of five adult body size traits in a free-living population of Soay sheep on St Kilda using 37 037 polymorphic SNPs. Two traits (jaw and weight) show classical signs of a polygenic trait: the proportion of variance explained by a chromosome was proportional to its length, multiple chromosomes and genomic regions explained significant amounts of phenotypic variance, but no SNPs were associated with trait variance when using GWAS. In comparison, genetic variance for leg length traits (foreleg, hindleg and metacarpal) was disproportionately explained by two SNPs on chromosomes 16 (s23172.1) and 19 (s74894.1), which each explained >10% of the additive genetic variance. After controlling for environmental differences, females heterozygous for s74894.1 produced more lambs and recruits during their lifetime than females homozygous for the common allele conferring long legs. We also demonstrate that alleles conferring shorter legs have likely entered the population through a historic admixture event with the Dunface sheep. In summary, we show that different proxies for body size can have very different genetic architecture and that dense SNP helps in understanding both the mode of selection and the evolutionary history at loci underlying quantitative traits in natural populations.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Molecular Ecology, 24(8), p. 1810-1830
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Place of Publication: United Kingdom
ISSN: 1365-294X
0962-1083
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 060305 Evolution of Developmental Systems
060408 Genomics
060412 Quantitative Genetics (incl. Disease and Trait Mapping Genetics)
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310404 Evolution of developmental systems
310509 Genomics
310506 Gene mapping
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences
970108 Expanding Knowledge in the Information and Computing Sciences
970107 Expanding Knowledge in the Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
280115 Expanding knowledge in the information and computing sciences
280101 Expanding knowledge in the agricultural, food and veterinary sciences
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

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