By Tom Gosden
Hello all. Erik has asked me to pick a paper as a way of integrating me back into the lab and meeting all the new faces that have appeared over the last 5 years I have been away. So to ease into it I have picked a paper which I found very useful in explaining and interpreting multivariate genetic constraints. It was written several years ago by Bruce Walsh and Mark Blows. It might be considered quite heavy in places, but I have personally found it an excellent paper as an introduction to some very complex and interesting approaches to studying genetic constraints.
There will be a test.
Abundant Genetic Variation + Strong Selection = Multivariate Genetic Constraints: A Geometric View of Adaptation
Bruce Walsh and Mark W. Blows
Abstract
Evolutionary biology has struggled to explain the coexistence of two basicobservations: Genetic variation is found in almost all traits in the presenceof strong natural and sexual selection in natural populations. These twoobservations are in direct conflict as such selection should deplete geneticvariation. Furthermore, the presence of genetic variation in a trait, and se-lection acting on that trait, is often not sufficient for the trait to respondto selection. Here, we bring together geometric perspectives on mutation,selection, and genetic variation and show how the perceived incompatibilitybetween these two observations is a consequence of taking a trait-by-traitapproach to the multivariate problem of genetic variation and selection. Weconclude that the simultaneous presence of widespead genetic variation in,and strong selection on, individual traits indicates that substantial multivari-ate genetic constraints are likely to be present in natural populations
Evolutionary biology has struggled to explain the coexistence of two basicobservations: Genetic variation is found in almost all traits in the presenceof strong natural and sexual selection in natural populations. These twoobservations are in direct conflict as such selection should deplete geneticvariation. Furthermore, the presence of genetic variation in a trait, and se-lection acting on that trait, is often not sufficient for the trait to respondto selection. Here, we bring together geometric perspectives on mutation,selection, and genetic variation and show how the perceived incompatibilitybetween these two observations is a consequence of taking a trait-by-traitapproach to the multivariate problem of genetic variation and selection. Weconclude that the simultaneous presence of widespead genetic variation in,and strong selection on, individual traits indicates that substantial multivari-ate genetic constraints are likely to be present in natural populations
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