Summary Morphological variation within organisms is integrated and often modular in nature. That is to say, the size and shape of traits tend to vary in a coordinated and structured manner across sets of organs or parts of an organism. The genetic basis of this morphological integration is largely unknown. Here, we report on quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of leaf and floral organ size i...

the genetic diversity among 56 almond (prunus dulcis) genotypes was analysed using 35 microsatellite markers and 14 morphological traits. analysis of morphological traits revealed a wide range of variation among the studied genotypes. out of 35 simple sequence repeats (ssrs) markers, 25 were polymorphic, producing 215 alleles that varied from 2 to 16 with an average of 8.76 alleles per locus. r...

Animal genitalia show two striking but incompletely understood evolutionary trends: a great evolutionary divergence in the shape of genitalic structures, and characteristic structural complexity. Both features are thought to result from sexual selection, but explicit comparative tests are hampered by the fact that it is difficult to quantify both morphological complexity and divergence in shape...

Apricot is grown in a wide range of climatic conditions in Iran, however, it is frequently damaged by late spring frost. In this case, identification of new genotypes tolerant to cold stress is indispensably needed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic population and relationships among 27 apricot accessions (Prunus armeniaca) by 30 microsatellite markers and 11 morp...

One of the main deficiencies affecting animal breeding programs in Peruvian alpacas is the low reproductive performance leading to low number of animals available to select from, decreasing strongly the selection intensity. Some reproductive traits could be improved by artificial selection, but very few information about genetic parameters exists for these traits in this specie. The aim of this...

Women's preferences for men's masculinized faces and voices were assessed after women (n = 331) were primed with images of male-on-male aggression, male-on-female aggression, pathogens, and neutral scenes. Male-on-male aggression and pathogen primes were associated with increased preference for masculine traits, but the same effect emerged in the neutral condition. We show the increased prefere...

Phalaenopsis is an important genus of orchids that is grown for economical production of cut flower and potted plants. The objective of this study is the evaluation of correlation between morphological and physiological traits of self and cross-pollination of 5 varieties of Phalaenopsis orchid. Some morphological traits were measured: Capsule length (CL), capsule volume (CV), weight of seeds in...

Seedless barberry (Berberis vulgaris L. var. asperma) is one of the few crops that is only cultivated in eastern parts of Iran. As a new crop there has not been any study to identify phylogenetic relationships of this plant with other related species existing in Iran. In this study, Amplification fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers based on four selected primer combinations (EcoRI/Tru1I...

BACKGROUND Although variation provides the raw material for natural selection and evolution, few empirical data exist about the factors controlling morphological variation. Because developmental constraints on variation are expected to act by influencing trait correlations, studies of modularity offer promising approaches that quantify and summarize patterns of trait relationships. Modules, hig...

Elaeagnus angustifolia L. is a Eurasian tree that has become naturalized and has various ecological, medicinal and economical uses. In this study, a combination of morphological traits and RAPD markers were used to study the presence or absence of an association between genetic variation and morphological features among five populations of E. angustifolia collected from the East Azarbaijan of I...