How does mutation affect the distribution of phenotypes?

The potential for mutational processes to influence patterns of neutral or adaptive phenotypic evolution is not well understood. If mutations are directionally biased, shifting trait means in a particular direction, or if mutation generates more variance in some directions of multivariate trait spac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEvolution Vol. 71; no. 10; pp. 2445 - 2456
Main Authors McGuigan, Katrina, Aw, Ernest
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Wiley 01.10.2017
Oxford University Press
Subjects
Aging
Aging - genetics
Animals
Body size
Covariance
Danio rerio
Evolution
Evolution & development
Evolution, Molecular
Female
Females
Genetic Variation
Male
Males
Mutagenesis
Mutation
Ontogeny
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Phenotype
Sex
Sex differences
Sex Factors
Swimming
Variance
Zebrafish
Zebrafish - genetics
Zebrafish - growth & development
Zebrafish - physiology
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Summary:The potential for mutational processes to influence patterns of neutral or adaptive phenotypic evolution is not well understood. If mutations are directionally biased, shifting trait means in a particular direction, or if mutation generates more variance in some directions of multivariate trait space than others, mutation itself might be a source of bias in phenotypic evolution. Here, we use mutagenesis to investigate the affect of mutation on trait mean and (co) variances in zebrafish, Danio rerio. Mutation altered the relationship between age and both prolonged swimming speed and body shape. These observations suggest that mutational effects on ontogeny or aging have the potential to generate variance across the phenome. Mutations had a far greater effect in males than females, although whether this is a reflection of sex-specific ontogeny or aging remains to be determined. In males, mutations generated positive covariance between swimming speed, size, and body shape suggesting the potential for mutation to affect the evolutionary covariation of these traits. Overall, our observations suggest that mutation does not generate equal variance in all directions of phenotypic space or in each sex, and that pervasive variation in ontogeny or aging within a cohort could affect the variation available to evolution.
ISSN:0014-3820
1558-5646
DOI:10.1111/evo.13358