DELETERIOUS MUTATIONS AND GENETIC VARIATION FOR FLOWER SIZE IN MIMULUS GUTTATUS

Deleterious mutations and the genetic variance of male fitness components in Mimulus guttatus.

Deleterious mutations are relevant to a broad range of questions in genetics and evolutionary biology. I present an application of the "biometric method" for estimating mutational parameters for male fitness characters of the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus. The biometric method rests on two critical assumptions. The first is that experimental inbreeding changes genotype frequencies witho...

Interactions among flower-size QTL of Mimulus guttatus are abundant but highly variable in nature.

The frequency and character of interactions among genes influencing complex traits remain unknown. Our ignorance is most acute for segregating variation within natural populations, the epistasis most relevant for quantitative trait evolution. Here, we report a comprehensive survey of interactions among a defined set of flower-size QTL: loci polymorphic within a single natural population of yell...

Interactions among flower size QTLs of Mimulus guttatus are abundant but highly variable in nature

Flower size preferences of the honeybee (Apis mellifera) foraging on Mimulus guttatus (Scrophulariaceae)

For pollinators to exert selection on floral traits, they must be able to detect and respond to differences in floral morphologies. I examined foraging preferences by the bee Apis mellifera (Apidae) visiting naturally occurring flowers of Mimulus guttatus (Scrophulariaceae). The results indicate that A. mellifera preferentially selects larger M. guttatus flowers in their foraging bouts. Since d...

Inbreeding load, average dominance and the mutation rate for mildly deleterious alleles in Mimulus guttatus.

The goal of this study is to provide information on the genetics of inbreeding depression in a primarily outcrossing population of Mimulus guttatus. Previous studies of this population indicate that there is tremendous inbreeding depression for nearly every fitness component and that almost all of this inbreeding depression is due to mildly deleterious alleles rather than recessive lethals or s...