Gene–environment (G–E) covariance is the phenomenon whereby genetic differences bias variation in developmental environment, and is particularly problematic for assigning genetic and environmental causation in a heritability analysis. The interpretation of these cases has differed amongst biologists and philosophers, leading some to reject the utility of heritability estimates altogether. This ...

Genomic data provide a valuable source of information for modeling covariance structures, allowing a more accurate prediction of total genetic values (GVs). We apply the kriging concept, originally developed in the geostatistical context for predictions in the low-dimensional space, to the high-dimensional space spanned by genomic single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) vectors and study its prope...

Recursive credibility estimation is discussed from the viewpoint of linear filtering theory. A conjunction of geometric mterpretation and the innovation approach leads to general algorithms not developed before. Moreover, covariance characterizations considered by other researchers drop our elegantly as a result of geometric considerations. Examples are presented of Kalman type filters valid fo...

introduction: genetic resources in any country are valuable materials which needed to be conserved for a sustainable agriculture. an animal phenotype is generally affected by genetic and environmental factors. to increase mean performance in a population under consideration not only environmental conditions, but also genetic potential of the animals should be improved. although, environmental i...

Heritable maternal effects have important consequences for the evolutionary dynamics of phenotypic traits under selection, but have only rarely been tested for or quantified in evolutionary studies. Here we estimate maternal effects on early-life traits in a feral population of Soay sheep (Ovis aries) from St Kilda, Scotland. We then partition the maternal effects into genetic and environmental...

Additive genetic variance in natural populations is commonly estimated using mixed models, in which the covariance of the genetic effects is modeled by a genetic similarity matrix derived from a dense set of markers. An important but usually implicit assumption is that the presence of any nonadditive genetic effect increases only the residual variance and does not affect estimates of additive g...

This paper outlines a critique of the use of the genetic variance–covariance matrix (G), one of the central concepts in the modern study of natural selection and evolution. Specifically, I argue that for both conceptual and empirical reasons, studies of G cannot be used to elucidate so-called constraints on natural selection, nor can they be employed to detect or to measure past selection in na...

This work demonstrates that environmental conditions experienced by individuals can shape their development and affect the stability of genetic associations. The implication of this observation is that the environmental response may influence the evolution of traits in the wild. Here, we examined how the genetic architecture of a suite of sexually dimorphic traits changed as a function of envir...

The role of developmental and genetic integration for evolution is contentious. One hypothesis states that integration acts as a constraint on evolution, whereas an alternative is that developmental and genetic systems evolve to match the functional modularity of organisms. This study examined a morphological structure, the cricket wing, where developmental and functional modules are discordant...

The effect of genetic and non-genetic factors for carcass, breast meat and leg weights, and yields of a commercial broiler line were investigated using the restricted maximum likelihood method, considering four different animal models, including or excluding maternal genetic effect with covariance between direct and maternal genetic effects, and maternal permanent environmental effect. The like...