DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolutionary Consequences of Direct and Indirect Contributions to Additive Genetic Variation in Wild Baboons.

论文研究：野生狒狒的加性遗传变异的直接和间接贡献的进化后果。

• 批准号: 1501971
• 负责人: Susan Alberts
• 金额: $ 2.05万
• 依托单位: Duke University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-07-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1501971&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Evolutionary; Consequences; Direct

A major goal of evolutionary biology is to understand how genes and environments combine to create the variation we see among animals in nature. Variation in social behavior, in particular, is important to understand, because we know that an animal's social behavior has a major impact on how effectively it copes with its environment. However, social living blurs the distinction between genes and environments because the social environment is (at least partly) determined by the genes of its members. Accordingly, the genes that influence an animal's social behavior include its own genes (direct genetic effects, DGEs) and potentially also the genes of its parents, siblings and social partners (indirect genetic effects, IGEs). Theory has shown that IGEs can profoundly affect how social behavior evolves. However, remarkably few studies have investigated how IGEs contribute to variation in social behavior or whether IGEs affect life history traits and social behavior in natural animal populations, outside of the laboratory. This proposal investigates the role of direct and indirect genetic effects in the evolution of life history and social behavior in a natural population of highly social non-human primates and will thus provide data that can test the theoretical result described above. This will be one of only a handful of studies of both direct and indirect genetic effects on phenotypic variation in the wild, and has the potential to greatly enhance understanding of the evolution of life history and social behavior. The PIs will use mixed effects linear models (in particular, the 'animal model') in a quantitative genetics approach to measure the direct and indirect genetic variation contributing to life history and social behaviors in the well-studied wild baboons of Amboseli National Park, Kenya. We will also measure the covariance between direct and indirect genetic effects to understand the consequences of this genetic architecture on the phenotypic evolution of these traits. These findings will be communicated to the scientific community and general public through conference presentations and educational outreach. Additionally, this work will provide important training for students and researchers from underrepresented minorities and foster global collaborations between USA, Kenyan and UK institutions.

进化生物学的一个主要目标是了解基因和环境如何联合收割机创造出我们在自然界动物中看到的变异。特别是社会行为的变化，理解这一点很重要，因为我们知道动物的社会行为对它如何有效地应对环境有着重大影响。然而，社会生活模糊了基因和环境之间的区别，因为社会环境（至少部分）是由其成员的基因决定的。因此，影响动物社会行为的基因包括其自身的基因（直接遗传效应，DGE），也可能包括其父母、兄弟姐妹和社会伙伴的基因（间接遗传效应，IGE）。理论表明，IGE可以深刻影响社会行为的演变。 然而，很少有研究调查IGEs如何有助于社会行为的变化，或者IGEs是否影响自然动物种群的生活史特征和社会行为，在实验室之外。 该提案调查了直接和间接遗传效应在高度社会化的非人灵长类动物自然种群的生活史和社会行为进化中的作用，从而提供了可以验证上述理论结果的数据。这将是为数不多的关于野生环境中表型变异的直接和间接遗传效应的研究之一，并有可能极大地提高对生活史和社会行为进化的理解。PI将在数量遗传学方法中使用混合效应线性模型（特别是“动物模型”），以测量对肯尼亚Amboseli国家公园的野生狒狒的生活史和社会行为有影响的直接和间接遗传变异。 我们还将测量直接和间接遗传效应之间的协方差，以了解这种遗传结构对这些性状表型进化的影响。 这些研究结果将通过会议介绍和教育宣传传达给科学界和公众。 此外，这项工作将为来自代表性不足的少数民族的学生和研究人员提供重要的培训，并促进美国，肯尼亚和英国机构之间的全球合作。