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Fitness-related patterns of genetic variation in rhesus macaques

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Abstract

The patterning of quantitative genetic descriptions of genetic and residual variation for 15 skeletal and six life history traits was explored in a semi-free-ranging group of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta Zimmerman 1780). I tested theoretical predictions that explain the magnitude of genetic and residual variation as a result of 1. strength of a trait’s association with evolutionary fitness, or 2. developmental and physiological relationships among traits. I found skeletal traits had higher heritabilities and lower coefficients of residual variation than more developmentally and physiologically dependent life history traits. Total lifetime fertility had a modest heritability (0.336) in this population, and traits with stronger correlations to fitness had larger amounts of residual variance. Censoring records of poorly-performing individuals on lifetime fertility and lifespan substantially reduced their heritabilities. These results support models for the fitness-related patterning of genetic variation based on developmental and physiological relationships among traits rather than the action of selection eroding variation.

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Abbreviations

h 2 :

Heritability

CV A :

Coefficient of additive genetic variation

CV R :

Coefficient of residual variation

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Acknowledgments

Cayo Santiago and the Laboratory for Primate Morphology and Genetics are part of the Caribbean Primate Research Center which is supported by the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus and the National Institutes of Health. The project described was supported by Grant Number CM-5 P40 RR003640-20 from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of NCRR or NIH. The genetic database from which paternity data were provided was originally created by John Berard, Fred Bercovitch, Matt Kessler, Michael Krawczak, Peter Nürnberg, and Jorg Schmidtke. The National Science Foundation, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, University of Berlin, Deutsche Forschungsmeinschaft, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, NIH, and CPRC funded the creation of the genetic database. Additional funding for this research came from the University of Illinois Graduate College. Melissa Gerald, John Cant, Terry Kensler, Benedikt Hallgrimsson, and Jean Turnquist were all helpful resources while working with CPRC materials. Angel “Guelo” Figueroa, Edgar Davila, and Elizabeth Maldonado must be credited for the completeness and upkeep of the demographic records on Cayo Santiago. John Berard and Donald Sade provided data and discussion on social rank. Steve Leigh, Paul Garber, Charles Roseman, Rebecca Stumpf, and Jim Cheverud all provided helpful insights. The comments of two anonymous reviewers also improved the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, 107 Swallow Hall, Columbia, MO, 65211–1440, USA

    Gregory E. Blomquist

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Blomquist, G.E. Fitness-related patterns of genetic variation in rhesus macaques. Genetica 135, 209–219 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10709-008-9270-x

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