The evolution of new genes is distinct from evolution through allelic substitution in that new genes bring with them new degrees of freedom for genetic variability. Selection in the evolution of new genes can therefore act to sculpt the dimensions of variability in the genome. This “constructional” selection effect is an evolutionary mechanism, in addition to genetic modification, that can affe...

Imputation of moderate-density genotypes from low-density panels is of increasing interest in genomic selection, because it can markedly reduce genotyping costs. Several imputation software packages have been developed; however, these vary in imputation accuracy and imputed genotypes may be inconsistent over methods. An AdaBoost-like approach was developed to combine imputation results from sev...

the genetic polymorphism of some genes related to meat production in three egyptian sheep breeds (barki, rahmani and osseimi) was studied. the candidate genes were: calpastatin, myostatin, diacylglycerol-acyltransferase1, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 and booroola fecundity gene. the technique applied was the restriction fragment length polymorphism for the polymerase chain react...

HIS paper is concerned with certain statistical problems which arise in conTnection with attempts to estimate fitnesses from the genotype frequency data produced by artificial populations in which rapid changes in genotype frequencies are taking place. The special situation of concern here is the one in which the investigator wishes to obtain several estimates of fitness, each taken from small ...

Milk composition and body measurement traits, influenced by genes and environmental factors, play important roles in value assessments of efficiency and productivity in dairy goats. Lactoferrin (LF), involved in the efficient expression of protein in milk, is also an anabolic factor in skeletal tissue and a potent osteoblast survival factor. Therefore, it is an important candidate gene for milk...

Variation in female choice for mates has implications for the maintenance of genetic variation and the evolution of male traits. Yet, estimates of population-level variation in male mating success owing to female genotype are rare. Here, we used a panel of recombinant inbred lines to estimate the strength of selection at many genetic loci in a single generation and attempt to assess differences...

We propose a variable selection procedure in model-based clustering multilocus genotype data. Indeed, it may happen that some loci are not relevant for clustering into statistically different populations. Inferring the number K of clusters and the relevant clustering subset S of loci is regarded as a model selection problem. The competing models are compared using penalized maximum likelihood c...

Evolutionary models of continuous traits are developed. The models are based on the ideas that: (1) the phenotype is the result of the interaction between genotype and environment; (2) the phenotype is the object of natural selection; (3) not only the genotype but also environmental variables and even phenotypes can be directly transmitted. The phenotype of an offspring at birth is a linear com...

Maternal effects on seed traits such as germination are important components of the life histories of plants because they represent the pathway from adult to offspring: the pathway that completes the life cycle. Maternal environmental effects on germination influence basic life-history expression, natural selection on germination, the expression of genetic variation for germination and even the...