Explaining the origin and maintenance of phenotypic variation remains a central challenge in evolutionary biology. Using the trematode parasite Maritrema novaezealandensis, we examined variability in several morphological, behavioural, and physiological phenotypic traits at the same time as controlling for genotype by using genetically identical parasite clonal lineages. We measured several mor...

The assessment of genetic diversity and structure a gene pool is prerequisite for efficient organization, conservation, utilization crop improvement. This study evaluated the population 24 Tunisian melon accessions, by using phenotypic traits eight microsatellite (SSR) markers. A considerable among accessions was observed many characters including those related to agronomical performance. All m...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS In species with specialized pollination, floral traits are expected to be relatively invariant and decoupled from the phenotypic variation affecting vegetative traits. However, inferring the degree of decoupling between morphological characters from patterns of phenotypic correlations is difficult because phenotypic correlations result from the superimposition of several sou...

Macrophysiology is defined as the study of variation in physiological traits-including physiological trait flexibility-over large geographical and temporal scales, and the ecological implications of this variation. A classic example of a macrophysiological trend is the one emerging from the climatic variability hypothesis, which states that as the range of climatic fluctuation experienced by te...

Records collected during 1971 through 1979 from 101,606 hogs raised in 18 Nebraska Specific Pathogen Free herds were analyzed. Traits considered were backfat at 100 kg (BF), weight at 140 d of age (WT) and, in some analyses, number of live pigs/litter at birth (NBA). The phenotypic correlation of BF and WT, averaged across herds, was -.07. The correlations between BF and NBA and between WT and ...

Trade-offs between life-history variables can be manifested at either the phenotypic or genetic level, with vastly different evolutionary consequences. Here, we examined whether male decorated crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) from eight inbred lines and the outbred founder population from which they were derived, trade-off immune effort [lytic activity, phenoloxidase (PO) activity or encapsulati...

BACKGROUND Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), a common autosomal dominant muscular disorder, is caused by contraction of the D4Z4 repeats on 4q35. The complicated genotype-phenotype correlation among different ethnic population remains a controversial subject. We aimed to refine this correlation in order to provide new information for genetic counseling. METHODS Here, a cohort of ...

We have recently developed analysis methods (GREML) to estimate the genetic variance of a complex trait/disease and the genetic correlation between two complex traits/diseases using genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data in unrelated individuals. Here we use analytical derivations and simulations to quantify the sampling variance of the estimate of the proportion of phenotypic va...

If, because of trade-offs or similar considerations, components of fitness are negatively correlated in equilibrium populations, they may then exhibit no correlation with total fitness. Lack of correlation with fitness is a fundamental characteristic of selective neutrality. Hence, selectively important traits become subsumed under neutral traits when the definition of neutrality is extended to...

Data collected from Jersey herd in the central highland environment of Ethiopia was used to estimate genetic parameter and trend analysis for reproductive/fertility traits. Totally, 11,933 reproductive records recorded during last 30 years were analysis. Traits studied NSC (number service per conception), DO (days open), CI (calving interval), AFC (age at first calving) AFS service). Genetic ph...