Meeting Abstract

41.1  Wednesday, Jan. 5  Evolution by genetic interaction at loci affecting shape or allometry PAVLICEV, M.*; CHEVERUD, J.M.; University of Oslo, Norway; Washington University, St. Louis, MO mihaela.pavlicev@bio.uio.no

Genetic basis of shape or the allometric relationships between traits resides in the distribution of genetic variance for traits, and in the genetic correlations between them. The evolution of trait relationships, as of any other character, requires underlying genetic variation. Our previous work resulted in identification of genetic loci, the so-called relationship-QTL, at which genotype classes differ in their genetic correlation between traits. We have shown that this phenomenon stems from genetic interactions of rQTL with background that affect multiple traits. These epistatic effects differ between the traits and leading to their varying relationship. We also showed that under certain conditions this kind of genetic variation in shape or allometry can be selected upon. One of the conditions regards the directionality of epistatic interaction between genes. With directional epistasis, the additive effects of alleles are consistently increased or decreased. In the current work, we explore the presence of epistatic directionality and its consequences at loci affecting relationships between mouse morphological traits.