Integration of Maximum Likelihood Paternity Analysis with Quantitative Genetics

[9707722]父权分析和定量遗传分析都被证明是研究当代种群进化动态的有效工具。最近的大量研究在一个或另一个层面上结合了这些方法。然而，应用定量遗传方法的一个持续存在的问题在于获得定量遗传参数的精确估计，如加性遗传变异和遗传相关性。这样的估计只适用于有限数量的物种，主要是寿命较短的生物，它们可以在受控条件下轻易繁殖，并通过两代或更多代的杂交设计。研究长寿生物的捷径是对野外采集的后代进行测量，这些后代通常被归为母系同胞。由于调查人员通常不知道母系兄弟姐妹中的个体是同父异母（不同父亲）还是全兄妹（同一父亲），这种母系兄弟姐妹提供的估计与母系和优势效应混淆在一起，无法测量和未知程度。因此，这些估计只是加性遗传方差值的粗略近似值。在过去的十年中，基于遗传标记的父系分析在统计学上取得了进展，这使得在相当详细地确定田间采集后代的潜在父系兄弟关系结构成为可能。这个项目的目标是整合最大似然方法的亲子分析与最大似然估计的定量遗传参数。通过这种方法，野外采集的后代可以获得更完整的家谱关系信息，并大大加强对自然种群的进化研究。

9707722 Meagher Paternity analysis and quantitative genetic analysis both have proven to be effective tools for studying the evolutionary dynamics of contemporary populations. A large number of recent studies have incorporated these methodologies on one level or another. One of the ongoing problems in applying quantitative genetic approaches, however, lies in obtaining precise estimates of quantitative genetic parameters, such as additive genetic variation and genetic correlations. Such estimates have been obtained for a limited number of species, primarily short-lived organisms that can be readily bred under controlled conditions and with crossing designs over two or more generations. A short-cut often used for long-lived organisms is to make measurements on field-collected progeny, typically grouped into maternal sibships. Because investigators do not usually know whether individuals within maternal sibships are related as half-sibs (different fathers) or full-sibs (the same father), such maternal sibships provide estimates that are confounded with maternal and dominance effects to an unmeasured and unknown degree. These estimates are thus only gross approximations to additive genetic variance values. Statistical advances in genetic-marker based paternity analysis over the past decade have made it feasible to determine the underlying paternal sibship structure of field-collected progeny in considerable detail. The goal of this project is to integrate maximum likelihood methods for paternity analysis with maximum likelihood estimation of quantitative genetic parameters. In this way, more complete information about genealogical relationships within field-collected progeny can be brought to bear, and evolutionary studies of natural populations substantively enhanced.