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Using genomic prediction to detect microevolutionary change of a quantitative trait

Hunter, D.C.; Ashraf, B.; Bérénos, C.; Ellis, P.A.; Johnston, S.E.; Wilson, A.J.; Pilkington, J.G.; Pemberton, J.M.; Slate, J.

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Authors

D.C. Hunter

C. Bérénos

P.A. Ellis

S.E. Johnston

A.J. Wilson

J.G. Pilkington

J.M. Pemberton

J. Slate



Abstract

Detecting microevolutionary responses to natural selection by observing temporal changes in individual breeding values is challenging. The collection of suitable datasets can take many years and disentangling the contributions of the environment and genetics to phenotypic change is not trivial. Furthermore, pedigree-based methods of obtaining individual breeding values have known biases. Here, we apply a genomic prediction approach to estimate breeding values of adult weight in a 35-year dataset of Soay sheep (Ovis aries). Comparisons are made with a traditional pedigree-based approach. During the study period, adult body weight decreased, but the underlying genetic component of body weight increased, at a rate that is unlikely to be attributable to genetic drift. Thus cryptic microevolution of greater adult body weight has probably occurred. Genomic and pedigree-based approaches gave largely consistent results. Thus, using genomic prediction to study microevolution in wild populations can remove the requirement for pedigree data, potentially opening up new study systems for similar research.

Citation

Hunter, D., Ashraf, B., Bérénos, C., Ellis, P., Johnston, S., Wilson, A., …Slate, J. (2022). Using genomic prediction to detect microevolutionary change of a quantitative trait. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1974), Article 20220330. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0330

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 12, 2022
Online Publication Date May 11, 2022
Publication Date May 11, 2022
Deposit Date Jun 30, 2022
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Print ISSN 0962-8452
Electronic ISSN 1471-2954
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 289
Issue 1974
Article Number 20220330
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0330

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