Evolution of Genetic Covariance Structure

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The genetic basis of differences among individuals is complex yet has many important implications for all biological systems. One complicating factor is that individual genes can influence more than one feature or trait of an organism. This project investigates how these shared genetic associations, or covariances, are structured and how they change through time. Theoretical population-genetic models will be used to study how patterns of genetic variance and covariance change under genetic drift with different assumptions regarding the mode of gene action. Such analyses provide the basis for comparative studies of the pattern of genetic covariance within and between populations.The genetic processes underlying the function of all organisms generate couplings among the features of those organisms that can have an important influence on evolutionary change. We currently do not have an adequate framework for studying how these genetic associations change through time. Understanding these processes is important for explaining the great diversity observed among living organisms, as well as more applied pursuits such as agricultural selection and the conservation of endangered species.