Assessing the impact of realized relatedness on primate sociality using whole genome sequencing

使用全基因组测序评估已实现的相关性对灵长类动物社会性的影响

• 批准号: 433163659
• 负责人: Professorin Dr. Anja Widdig
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl Verhaltensökologie
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/433163659?language=en
• 关键词: Assessing; impact; realized; relatedness; primate

Rapid technological advances such as whole genome sequencing (WGS) have opened up exciting new avenues for genomic studies in a wide range of species. One of the topics that will be substantially impacted by this progress is the influence of kin-driven behaviour on social relationships, which are of crucial importance for health and fitness even in humans. As predicted by kin selection theory, individuals in many taxa frequently bias their social behaviour towards conspecifics depending upon the proportion of alleles shared. Yet the observed patterns are highly variable, which may be due to imprecise estimates of genetic relatedness.Measuring social preferences for (e.g. nepotism) and against kin (e.g. inbreeding avoidance) requires accurate estimates of relatedness (or identity-by-descent, IBD). Notably, the amount of the genome shared by relatives varies considerably due to stochastic processes during meiosis, resulting in a gradient of IBD values that is only poorly reflected by relatedness estimates from previously used methods. Pedigrees or Short Tandem Repeat (STR) markers, for instance, provide either categorical averages or rather imprecise estimates based on parts of the genome. WGS, on the other hand, assays all single-nucleotide variants across the entire genome, thus providing the most authoritative relatedness estimates and unprecedented power for addressing questions on kin-driven behaviour. Primate relatedness has so far mainly been examined at the categorical level but not along a gradient in IBD. This leaves major gaps in our understanding of sociality and its evolution. WGS data on free-ranging primates remain scarce, but are imperative to fill these gaps. Here we will take advantage of an exceptional population of free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) at Cayo Santiago (Puerto Rico), for which demographic, reproductive, behavioural, and other phenotypic data have been collected over decades. We will link these data with IBD from WGS in 800 animals to assess the impact of the gradient in IBD on social preferences for and against kin. With this integrative approach, we will pursue three main aims: 1. We will quantify variation in IBD within and between kin classes and will compare differences between IBD estimates from WGS data, pedigrees and STR markers. 2. We will determine whether social preferences are predicted by the gradient in IBD. To understand the mechanisms of kin bias, we will relate phenotypic similarities to variation in IBD and assess whether phenotypic cues are perceived according to shared IBD. 3. We will investigate whether inbreeding and inbreeding depression can be detected from WGS data, and whether shared IBD affects individual mating preferences and breeding. By combining IBD from WGS with extensive social data on a large set of individuals, the project will contribute significantly to unravelling the impact of realized relatedness on sociality in our evolutionary history.

快速的技术进步，如全基因组测序（WGS），为广泛物种的基因组研究开辟了令人兴奋的新途径。受这一进展影响的主题之一是亲属驱动行为对社会关系的影响，这对人类的健康和健身至关重要。正如亲缘选择理论所预测的那样，许多类群中的个体经常根据共享等位基因的比例而将其社会行为偏向同种。然而，观察到的模式是高度可变的，这可能是由于遗传相关性的不精确估计。测量社会偏好（例如裙带关系）和反对亲属（例如避免近亲繁殖）需要准确估计相关性（或血统身份，IBD）。值得注意的是，由于减数分裂过程中的随机过程，亲属共享的基因组的量变化很大，导致IBD值的梯度，这只能很好地反映从以前使用的方法的相关性估计。例如，谱系或短串联重复序列（STR）标记提供分类平均值或基于基因组部分的不精确估计。另一方面，WGS分析了整个基因组中的所有单核苷酸变异，从而为解决亲属驱动行为问题提供了最权威的相关性估计和前所未有的能力。灵长类动物的相关性迄今主要是在分类水平上进行检查，但不是沿着IBD的梯度。这在我们对社会性及其进化的理解中留下了重大空白。WGS关于自由放养灵长类动物的数据仍然很少，但必须填补这些空白。在这里，我们将利用一个特殊的人口自由放养的恒河猴（Macaca mulatta）在圣地亚哥（波多黎各），人口，生殖，行为和其他表型数据已收集了几十年。我们将把这些数据与来自WGS的800只动物的IBD联系起来，以评估IBD梯度对亲属和亲属社会偏好的影响。通过这种综合方法，我们将追求三个主要目标：1。我们将量化IBD在亲属类别内和亲属类别之间的变化，并将比较WGS数据，家系和STR标记物的IBD估计值之间的差异。2.我们将确定IBD的梯度是否可以预测社会偏好。为了理解亲属偏见的机制，我们将把表型相似性与IBD的变异联系起来，并评估表型线索是否根据共同的IBD被感知。3.我们将研究是否可以从WGS数据中检测到近亲繁殖和近亲繁殖衰退，以及共享IBD是否影响个体交配偏好和繁殖。通过将来自WGS的IBD与大量个体的广泛社会数据相结合，该项目将大大有助于揭示在我们的进化历史中实现的相关性对社会性的影响。