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Mutation and conflicts between artificial and natural selection for quantitative traits
1Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. w.g.hill@ed.ac.uk
Genetica
|August 28, 1998
Summary
New mutations create genetic variation for artificial selection. However, long-term selection can lead to limits, even with remaining variation, influenced by natural selection
Area of Science:
- Quantitative genetics
- Evolutionary biology
- Animal breeding
Background:
- Mutation generates new genetic variation for quantitative traits.
- Long-term artificial selection often results in attenuated response and selection limits.
- Genetic variation may persist even when response to selection ceases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review theoretical bases of long-term response and population variability from mutational variance.
- To analyze the relationship between selection response, genetic variation, and natural selection.
- To derive formulae predicting the effects of relaxed or reversed selection.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical review of quantitative genetics principles.
- Analysis of natural selection's role (pleiotropy, stabilizing selection).
- Derivation of predictive formulae for selection scenarios.
- Description and analysis of long-term mouse selection experiments.
Main Results:
- Long-term selection response is influenced by the strength and mode of natural selection.
- Theoretical models explain the attenuation of response despite standing genetic variation.
- Experimental results in mice align with theoretical predictions, reconciling variation with low response rates.
Conclusions:
- Natural selection, including pleiotropic effects and stabilizing selection, significantly impacts long-term response to artificial selection.
- Mathematical models can predict outcomes of altered selection regimes.
- Understanding these dynamics is crucial for reconciling observed genetic variation with selection limits in experimental populations.