Collaborative Research: Genes, environment and gene expression in a wild primate population

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Understanding the expression and evolution of complex traits requires, among other things, measuring the genetic variation that underlies these traits. This in turn requires an understanding of the interplay between genes, the environment, and the traits an organism displays, specifically the nature of gene by environment interactions (GEIs). GEIs arise when two different genotypes respond differently to a change in the environment. Surprisingly little is known about GEIs in natural populations, although GEIs are pervasive in all known organisms, including humans. This project will address this gap by examining multiple aspects of GEIs in a wild mammal population. The project takes advantage of a long-term field study of wild baboons in the Amboseli basin in southern Kenya, in which individually known animals have been under continuous observation for 38 years. The investigators will test hypotheses about the ways in which GEIs influence variation in traits of adult baboons, and the manner in which GEIs affect standing genetic variation. The proposed project will continue and extend the investigators' long history of training American and Kenyan students. The project will generate several unique data sets that will be of interest to the wider scientific community, and which are available for no other natural primate population. In addition, PIs have shared the design and implementation of their comprehensive long term database (BABASE) with a number of other scientists, and have also developed a website for the research project (www.princeton.edu/~baboon) which serves as a vehicle for providing information and data to the public.