Many phenotypes may be influenced by the prenatal environment of the mother and/or maternal care, and these maternal effects may have a heritable component. We have implemented in the computer program SOLAR a variance components-based method for detecting indirect effects of maternal genotype on offspring phenotype. Of six phenotypes measured in three generations of the Framingham Heart Study, ...

Maternal factors control development prior to the activation of the embryonic genome. In vertebrates, little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which maternal factors regulate embryonic development. To understand the processes controlled by maternal factors and identify key genes involved, we embarked on a maternal-effect mutant screen in the zebrafish. We identified 68 maternal-effect ...

In this paper, we demonstrate how simulation studies can be used to answer questions about identifiability and consequences of omitting effects from a model. The methodology is presented through a case study where identifiability of genetic and/or individual (environmental) maternal effects is explored. Our study system is a wild house sparrow (Passer domesticus) population with known pedigree....

background: we studied the role of maternal folic acid supplementation in modifying the effects of  methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (mthfr c677t and a1298c) gene polymorphisms in iranian children with oral clefts. materials and methods: forty?seven newborn infants with orofacial cleft and their mothers were selected randomly. mothers were matched regarding dietary folate intake.the genotypi...

The effect of genetic and non-genetic factors for carcass, breast meat and leg weights, and yields of a commercial broiler line were investigated using the restricted maximum likelihood method, considering four different animal models, including or excluding maternal genetic effect with covariance between direct and maternal genetic effects, and maternal permanent environmental effect. The like...

Background: Naturally occurring CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) exert an important role in mediating maternal tolerance to the fetus during pregnancy. During pregnancy the elevated number of regulatory T cells (Tregs) correlates with 17-b oestradiol (E2) level. The role of maternal hormones in successful pregnancy is well known. Maternal hormones through re-engineering of the maternal immun...

Intrinsic postzygotic reproductive isolation is thought to result from the substitution of multiple harmless or beneficial genetic differences between species that are incidentally deleterious when combined in species hybrids, causing hybrid sterility or inviability. Genetic variability for hybrid sterility or inviability phenotypes is, however, rarely assessed in natural populations. Here, we ...