Using genomic prediction to detect microevolutionary change of a quantitative trait

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Quantitative genetics
• Animal breeding

Background:

• Detecting microevolutionary responses to natural selection is challenging due to environmental influences and biases in traditional methods.
• Pedigree-based breeding value estimation has known limitations in accuracy and applicability to wild populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply genomic prediction to estimate breeding values for adult weight in Soay sheep over 35 years.
• To compare genomic prediction with traditional pedigree-based methods for studying microevolution.
• To investigate cryptic microevolutionary changes in body weight in a wild population.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a 35-year dataset of Soay sheep (Ovis aries).
• Applied genomic prediction to estimate individual breeding values for adult weight.
• Compared results with traditional pedigree-based breeding value estimation.

Main Results:

• Adult body weight in the Soay sheep population decreased over the study period.
• The underlying genetic component for adult body weight increased significantly, suggesting cryptic microevolution.
• Genomic and pedigree-based approaches yielded largely consistent results.

Conclusions:

• Genomic prediction effectively detected microevolutionary changes in a wild population.
• This approach removes the need for pedigree data, expanding possibilities for studying microevolution in new systems.
• Cryptic microevolution towards greater adult body weight has likely occurred in Soay sheep.