Genealogical inference from genetic data is essential for a variety of applications in human genetics. In genome-wide and sequencing association studies, for example, accurate inference on both recent genetic relatedness, such as family structure, and more distant genetic relatedness, such as population structure, is necessary for protection against spurious associations. Distinguishing familia...

Unlike in most pathogens, multiple-strain (polygenomic) infections of P. falciparum are frequently composed of genetic siblings. These genetic siblings are the result of sexual reproduction and can coinfect the same host when cotransmitted by the same mosquito. The degree with which coinfecting strains are related varies among infections and populations. Because sexual recombination occurs with...

Social behavior can shape the local population genetic structure of mammals. Group living can increase pairwise genetic relatedness of mammals at a local level but differentiate the genetic structure at a population level through offspring philopatry and nonrandom mating. Our study aimed to test the hypothesis that social groups of Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) would consist of gene...

One condition for the evolution of altruism is genetic relatedness between altruist and beneficiary, often achieved through active kin recognition. Here, we investigate the power of a passive process resulting from genetic drift during population growth in the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. We put labelled and unlabelled cells of the same clone in the centre of a plate, and allowed the...

Immunochemical relatedness of preparations of purified somatotropins (growth hormones) of somatotropins in pituitary extracts from various vertebrate species was investigated by applying an antiserum to a purified somatotropin from a submammalian species, the snapping turtle. With the exception of monkey somatotropin, all mammalian, reptilian, and avian preparations tested showed reactions of i...

The spatial distribution of potential interactants is critical to social evolution in all cooperative organisms. Yet the biogeography of microbial kin discrimination at the scales most relevant to social interactions is poorly understood. Here we resolve the microbiogeography of social identity and genetic relatedness in local populations of the model cooperative bacterium Myxococcus xanthus at...

Stingless bee colonies typically consist of one single-mated mother queen and her worker offspring. The stingless bee Melipona bicolor (Hymenoptera: Apidae) shows facultative polygyny, which makes this species particularly suitable for testing theoretical expectations concerning social behavior. In this study, we investigated the social structure and genetic relatedness among workers from eight...

Information on the genetic structure of animal populations can allow inferences about mechanisms shaping their social organization, dispersal, and mating system. The mongooses (Herpestidae) include some of the best-studied mammalian systems in this respect, but much less is known about their closest relatives, the Malagasy carnivores (Eupleridae), even though some of them exhibit unusual associ...

Complex Mus musculus crosses, e.g., heterogeneous stock (HS), provide increased resolution for quantitative trait loci detection. However, increased genetic complexity challenges detection methods, with discordant results due to low data quality or complex genetic architecture. We quantified the impact of theses factors across three mouse crosses and two different detection methods, identifying...

This study used eight polymorphic microsatellite loci to examine the relative effects of social organization and dispersal on fine-scale genetic structure in an obligately cooperative breeding bird, the white-winged chough (Corcorax melanorhamphos). Using both individual-level and population-level analyses, it was found that the majority of chough groups consisted of close relatives and there w...