Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tai data-artikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä (A1)

Heritability and genetic constraints of life-history trait evolution in preindustrial humans




Julkaisun tekijätPettay JE, Kruuk LEB, Jokela J, Lummaa V

KustantajaNATL ACAD SCIENCES

Julkaisuvuosi2005

JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimiPROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Lehden akronyymiP NATL ACAD SCI USA

Volyymi102

Julkaisunumero8

Aloitussivu2838

Lopetussivun numero2843

Sivujen määrä6

ISSN0027-8424

DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0406709102


Tiivistelmä
An increasing number of studies have documented phenotypic selection on life-history traits in human populations, but less is known of the heritability and genetic constraints that mediate the response to selection on life-history traits in humans. We collected pedigree data for four generations of preindustrial (1745-1900) Finns who lived in premodern fertility and mortality conditions, and by using a restricted maximum-likelihood animal-model framework, we estimated the heritability of and genetic correlations between a suite of life-history traits and two alternative measures of fitness. First, we demonstrate high heritability of key life-history traits (fecundity, interbirth interval, age at last reproduction, and adult longevity) and measures of fitness (individual lambda and lifetime reproductive success) for females but not for males. This sex difference may have arisen because most of the measured traits are under physiological control of the female, such that a male's fitness in monogamous societies may depend mainly on the reproductive quality of his spouse. We found strong positive genetic correlations between female age at first reproduction and longevity, and between interbirth intervals and longevity, suggesting reduced life spans in females who either started to breed relatively early or who then bred frequently. Our results suggest that key female life-history traits in this premodern human population had high heritability and may have responded to natural selection. However genetic constraints between longevity and reproductive life-history traits may have constrained the evolution of life history and facilitated the maintenance of additive genetic variance in key life-history traits.


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