Correlational selection in the age of genomics

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary Biology
• Genomics
• Quantitative Genetics

Background:

• Natural and sexual selection act on trait combinations, not in isolation.
• Multivariate selection and correlational selection are pervasive evolutionary phenomena.
• Correlational selection theory is underutilized in genomic research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To bridge ecological, quantitative genetic, and genomic research on correlational selection.
• To highlight the implications of correlational selection for genomic architecture.
• To synthesize current knowledge and propose future research directions.

Main Methods:

• Review of theory and empirical findings from ecological, quantitative genetic, and genomic studies.
• Integration of insights across different fields of evolutionary biology.
• Discussion of emerging genomic methods and quantitative genetic approaches.

Main Results:

• Correlational selection impacts discrete trait combinations and quantitative characters.
• Profound implications for genomic architecture, linkage, pleiotropy, evolvability, modularity, phenotypic integration, and plasticity.
• Correlational selection shapes genomic architecture by linking quantitative genetic and genomic methods.

Conclusions:

• Correlational selection research offers a powerful framework to integrate diverse fields in evolutionary biology.
• Future research can elucidate how correlational selection shapes genomic architecture.
• This synthesis promotes interdisciplinary approaches including developmental biology, ecology, and speciation processes.