There is currently considerable interest in testing the effects of genetic compatibility and heterozygosity on animal mate preferences. Evidence for either effect is rapidly accumulating, although results are not always clear-cut. However, correlations between mating preferences and either genetic similarity or heterozygosity are usually tested independently, and the possibility that similarity...

Although genetic diversity within stands of trees is known to have community-level consequences, whether such effects are present at an even finer scale unknown. We examined the hypothesis that variability (heterozygosity) individual plant would affect its dependent community, which adds a new dimension importance diversity. Our study contrasted foliar arthropod community and microsatellite mar...

background: retinoblastoma is the most common intraocular tumor in childhood and mutation in the rb1 gene will trigger the tumorigenesis. so far, a wide range of the mutations along the length of rb1 gene have been reported. however, some could not be detected by common detection methods. in such condition, linkage analysis using microsatellite markers is suggested to trace unknown rb1 mutation...

Growth hormone (GH) has an effect on a broad variety of physiological parameters such as lactation, reproduction, growth and metabolism. Thus, the aim of this study was to detect GH gene polymorphism and its association with breeding values of production and reproduction traits in Raini Cashmere goat. Breeding values were estimated using records on 26731 Raini Cashmere goats. To study GH gene p...

Proxy measures of genome-wide heterozygosity based on approximately 10 microsatellites have been used to uncover heterozygosity fitness correlations (HFCs) for a wealth of important fitness traits in natural populations. However, effect sizes are typically very small and the underlying mechanisms remain contentious, as a handful of markers usually provides little power to detect inbreeding. We ...

Loss of heterozygosity occurring on various chromosomes has been described in the majority of human tumors. The targets of frequent or consistent subchromosomal deletions are believed to be tumor suppressor genes. We examined 72 esophageal tumors (46 squamous cell carcinomas and 26 adenocarcinomas) for loss of heterozygosity at the p53, Rb, APC, MCC, and DCC loci. Inclusion of these tumor suppr...

The outcome of sexual selection on males may depend on female mate choice and male-male competition as well as postcopulatory processes such as cryptic female choice and sperm competition. We studied the outcome of sexual selection in the spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum), specifically examining the role of body size and relatedness on male reproductive success. Using controlled mating e...

Numerous studies have reported associations between heterozygosity in microsatellite markers and fitness-related traits (heterozygosity-fitness correlations, HFCs). However, it has often been questioned whether HFCs reflect general inbreeding depression, because a small panel of microsatellite markers does not reflect very well an individual's inbreeding coefficient (F) as calculated from a ped...

Effects of inbreeding on individual fitness are of long-standing interest in evolutionary biology and conservation studies. Since estimation of the inbreeding coefficient of a given individual is often impossible in wild populations, some authors have attempted to demonstrate inbreeding depression in such populations by correlating the multi-locus marker heterozygosity of individuals with a tra...

Chromosomal meiotic behavior in pollen mother cells (PMCs) of Paeonia emodi, an endangered species, was investigated in natural population represented by nine individuals. The results showed that: (1) Mean chromosome configuration was 2n = 10 = 0.20 I + 4.90 II at metaphase. Most of the chromosomes were ring bivalents, but some were rod bivalents or univalents. The existence of rod bivalent and...