Divergent allele advantage at MHC-DRB through direct and maternal genotypic effects and its consequences for allele pool composition and mating.
Proc Biol Sci
; 280(1762): 20130714, 2013 Jul 07.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-23677346
It is still debated whether main individual fitness differences in natural populations can be attributed to genome-wide effects or to particular loci of outstanding functional importance such as the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). In a long-term monitoring project on Galápagos sea lions (Zalophus wollebaeki), we collected comprehensive fitness and mating data for a total of 506 individuals. Controlling for genome-wide inbreeding, we find strong associations between the MHC locus and nearly all fitness traits. The effect was mainly attributable to MHC sequence divergence and could be decomposed into contributions of own and maternal genotypes. In consequence, the population seems to have evolved a pool of highly divergent alleles conveying near-optimal MHC divergence even by random mating. Our results demonstrate that a single locus can significantly contribute to fitness in the wild and provide conclusive evidence for the 'divergent allele advantage' hypothesis, a special form of balancing selection with interesting evolutionary implications.
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1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Comportamento Sexual Animal
/
Éxons
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Genes MHC da Classe II
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Leões-Marinhos
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Aptidão Genética
Limite:
Animals
País/Região como assunto:
America do sul
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Ecuador
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Proc Biol Sci
Assunto da revista:
BIOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2013
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha
País de publicação:
Reino Unido