Article
Biology
Jennifer A. Fortunato, Ryan L. Earley
Summary: Understanding the factors underlying behavioural variance is crucial in predicting behavioural response to selection and evolution. Behavioural variation can change across ontogeny, with varying contributions of genetics and environment across ages. This study investigated variation in aggression among individuals and genotypes across development stages. Results showed that aggression was repeatable and heritable only in juveniles, and the changes in aggression between juvenile and adult stages varied significantly among individuals and genotypes. These findings suggest that juvenile aggression is more likely to evolve rapidly through natural selection and that the trajectory of behavioural change across lifespan has evolutionary potential. Determining when genetic variation explains behavioural variation can enhance our understanding of key life-history stages for strong evolutionary response.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Richard Border, Georgios Athanasiadis, Alfonso Buil, Andrew J. Schork, Na Cai, Alexander I. Young, Thomas Werge, Jonathan Flint, Kenneth S. Kendler, Sriram Sankararaman, Andy W. Dahl, Noah A. Zaitlen
Summary: The study introduces cross-trait assortative mating (xAM) as an alternative explanation for genetic correlations between different human traits, showing that xAM affects various phenotypes and can plausibly account for a substantial portion of genetic correlation estimates. The results suggest that previous reports may have overestimated the true genetic similarity between many phenotypes.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Armin Tarrah, Simone Callegaro, Shadi Pakroo, Raffaella Finocchiaro, Alessio Giacomini, Viviana Corich, Martino Cassandro
Summary: The study aimed to evaluate the microbiota diversity in milk samples from Holstein cows with different genetic characteristics and its impact on milk quality. The results showed significant differences between high and low groups in terms of feed efficiency and resilience to mastitis, while no significant difference was detected for milk coagulation. Moreover, differences were observed between seasons. The abundance of certain bacteria was found to be associated with feed efficiency and resilience to mastitis.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Amin M. S. Amin, Mohammed K. Abo-Ismail, Mohamed M. Salem
Summary: This study evaluated genetic parameters for reproductive traits in buffalo, finding the lowest heritability estimates for PPIP and CE. Close genetic correlations were observed between certain reproductive traits, with all traits showing negative genetic trends. The results indicate a need for improvement in genetic selection programs and farm management practices for reproductive traits in Egyptian buffalo.
ANIMAL REPRODUCTION SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Yue Wu, Kathryn S. Burch, Andrea Ganna, Paivi Pajukanta, Bogdan Pasaniuc, Sriram Sankararaman
Summary: Genetic correlation is a crucial parameter for understanding the relationships among complex traits. Existing methods for analyzing individual genotype data are not scalable to large datasets, while methods using summary data have reduced precision. This study introduces SCORE, a scalable and accurate method for estimating genetic correlation using randomized method of moments. SCORE achieves more precise estimates compared to summary-statistic methods, and it can be applied to large datasets in a computationally efficient manner.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Y. Chen, S. Vanderick, R. R. Mota, C. Grelet, N. Gengler
Summary: The study aimed to estimate genetic parameters of N use efficiency and loss for Holstein cows, and assess their genetic correlations with other dairy production traits. Results showed that more efficient cows may produce more milk but have lower health, fertility, and longevity.
JOURNAL OF DAIRY SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Fisheries
Kazuki Akita, Kazunori Yoshida, Tsutomu Noda, Toshiya Suzuki, Takurou Hotta, Rihito Shinoda, Taro Chujo, Hiroki Ogawa, Yuichiro Fujinami, Akiyuki Ozaki
Summary: The aim of this study is to assess the feasibility of genetic improvement of traits related to resistance to the monogenean ectoparasite Benedenia seriolae in Japanese yellowtail Seriola quinqueradiata. The results showed that selective breeding is a promising approach to control benedeniosis in Japanese yellowtail aquaculture.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Devender Kumar, J. S. Mehta, A. Jerome, Pradeep Kumar, D. Kumar, B. Shivani, C. S. Patil, Renu Bala, Nisha Verma, Satish Nain, R. K. Sharma, Pawan Singh
Summary: This study aimed to estimate the genetic parameters of semen quality traits in buffalo bulls. The analysis of 10975 ejaculate data revealed the heritability and phenotypic correlations among different quality traits. The results suggest that genetic parameters of semen traits are important for the selection of buffalo bulls in breeding programs.
TROPICAL ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Reza Tohidi, Behrouz Mohammad Nazari
Summary: This study estimated the genetic parameters of productive and reproductive traits of Iranian Holstein cattle. The results showed high heritability for milk, fat, and protein, while low heritability for age at first calving and length of lactation. The repeatability values for milk, fat, and protein yield were high, indicating that selection can be based on the first lactation record. The study also found a positive genetic trend for production traits, demonstrating the improvement of breeding values in Iranian Holstein cattle.
TROPICAL ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Forestry
Xiaoting Liu, Zhimin Lu, Jingui Wu, Yuchun Yang, Shuchun Li, Lin Wu, Qingshan Xu, Qi Yu, Li Zhao, Jian Sun, Wei Zheng, Mulualem Tigabu, Xiyang Zhao
Summary: To evaluate and select elite breeding materials, the growth and wood characteristics of 33-year-old Pinus koraiensis clones and families were measured and analyzed. The results showed significant variation in growth and wood traits, with clonal effects having a higher impact than family effects. The selected superior materials for improved growth and wood production were identified using the membership function method. The results provide valuable insights for improving breeding programs and genetic improvement of P. koraiensis.
JOURNAL OF FORESTRY RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Mohamed M. I. Salem, Amin M. S. Amin, Ayman F. Ashour, Ayman G. EL Nagar
Summary: This study aimed to characterize the semen traits of Egyptian buffalo bulls and evaluate the effects of non-genetic factors on these traits. The results showed that year and age of bull at collection significantly influenced most semen traits, while season had no significant effect. Heritability estimates indicated moderate to high heritability for ejaculate volume, mass motility, sperm livability, abnormal sperms percentage, and sperm concentration. Genetic correlations between mass motility and sperm livability, as well as between sperm livability and sperm concentration, were highly significant. These findings suggest that direct selection for mass motility may be an effective strategy to improve semen quality and fertility in Egyptian buffalo bulls.
TROPICAL ANIMAL HEALTH AND PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ju Zhang, Fredrick R. Schumacher
Summary: The study evaluated the performance of a statistical method called Popcorn under different parameters and circumstances, finding that accurate estimation of shared heritability requires consideration of the sample size of the external reference panel, summary statistics, and number of SNPs, which are directly proportional with heritability in Popcorn. Misrepresentation of the reference panel can lead to overestimation or underestimation of genetic correlation and heritability.
MOLECULAR GENETICS AND GENOMICS
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Ricardo Faria, Antonio Vicente, Josineudson Silva
Summary: The main goal in selecting racehorses for breeding is to maximize monetary earnings. However, the fastest racehorses are not always selected because prize money varies in different competitions. This study evaluated the heritability, genetic correlations, and trends of different traits in Quarter Horses and showed that including earnings trait in breeding programs can improve genetic gains for speed racing.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Md. Moksedul Momin, Jisu Shin, Soohyun Lee, Buu Truong, Beben Benyamin, S. Hong Lee
Summary: Cross-ancestry genetic correlation is an important parameter to understand the genetic relationship between two ancestry groups. Existing methods cannot properly account for ancestry-specific genetic architecture, leading to biased estimates of cross-ancestry genetic correlation. The authors propose a method to construct a genomic relationship matrix (GRM) that can account for ancestry-specific allele frequencies and allelic effects, and demonstrate its superiority in estimating SNP-based heritability and cross-ancestry genetic correlation.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Biology
Patrick J. Tkaczynski, Fabrizio Mafessoni, Cedric Girard-Buttoz, Liran Samuni, Corinne Y. Ackermann, Pawel Fedurek, Cristina Gomes, Catherine Hobaiter, Therese Loehrich, Virgile Manin, Anna Preis, Prince D. Vale, Erin G. Wessling, Livia Wittiger, Zinta Zommers, Klaus Zuberbuehler, Linda Vigilant, Tobias Deschner, Roman M. Wittig, Catherine Crockford
Summary: English summary: Using urinary samples from 170 wild chimpanzees, the study found that shared community and non-genetic maternal effects have a greater influence on urinary cortisol levels than genetic inheritance. Consistent individual variation in cortisol levels was observed, but between-group effects were more influential in determining the variation in this trait. Non-genetic maternal effects accounted for a significant proportion of the individual differences in cortisol levels, suggesting a primary role of shared environment in shaping physiology.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)