Developmental instability as an estimator of genetic stress

Pertoldi, Cino; Kristensen, Torsten Nygaard; Andersen, Ditte Holm; Loeschcke, Volker

doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800777

Cited by 60 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Moreover, it would be important to elucidate the role of factors with equivocal effects. For instance, it is still debated whether there is a connection between heterozygosity and DI [14,15]. Nevertheless, there is evidence that links parasitic infection [16] and environmental pollution [17] with DI.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental age influences developmental stability of the progeny inDrosophila

et al. 2015

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The stochastic nature of biochemical processes is a source of variability that influences developmental stability. Developmental instability (DI) is often estimated through fluctuating asymmetry (FA), a parameter that deals with withinindividual variation in bilateral structures. A relevant goal is to shed light on how environment, physiology and genotype relate to DI, thus providing a more comprehensive view of organismal development. Using Drosophila melanogaster isogenic lines, we investigated the effect of parental age, parental diet and offspring heterozygosity on DI. In this work, we have uncovered a clear relationship between parental age and offspring asymmetry. We show that asymmetry of the progeny increases concomitantly with parental age. Moreover, we demonstrate that enriching the diet of parents mitigates the effect of age on offspring symmetry. We show as well that increasing the heterozygosity of the progeny eliminates the effect of parental age on offspring symmetry. Taken together, our results suggest that diet, genotype and age of the parents interact to determine offspring DI in wild populations. These findings provide us with an avenue to understand the mechanisms underlying DI.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental age influences developmental stability of the progeny inDrosophila

et al. 2015

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“…It has been proposed that various genetic and environmental factors distort symmetrical morphological development of traits, resulting in higher FA of the phenotype. These factors include variation in genetic variability, in-and outbreeding (Leamy & Klingenberg 2005;Pertoldi et al 2006), and adverse environmental conditions during development; such as high temperature, food shortage, chemical pollution, parasitism and habitat disturbances (Møller 1999;Hoffman & Wood 2003;Lens & Eggermonth 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluctuating feather asymmetry in relation to corticosterone levels is sex-dependent in Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) nestlings

Helle

Suorsa

Huhta³

et al. 2010

Biol. Lett.

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Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) has been widely used as a stress-related phenotypic marker of developmental instability. However, previous studies relating FA to various stressful conditions have produced inconsistent results and we still lack quantitative individual-level evidence that high FA is related to stress in wild vertebrate species. We studied how baseline plasma levels of corticosterone predicted FA of wing and tail feathers in free-living Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) nestlings. We found a sexspecific association between corticosterone levels and FA: high corticosterone levels were related to an increased FA in male but not in female nestlings. These results suggest that in treecreepers, FA may correlate with individual stress hormone levels, male developmental trajectory being potentially more sensitive to stress than that of the female.

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“…The theoretical argument that stressed individuals have greater DI is supported by some research showing a positive relationship between DI and the intensity of stress [4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. However, empirical studies supporting its general adequacy for monitoring species or populations are generally lacking or contradictory [4,[13][14][15][16].…”

Section: Developmental Instabilitymentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Several studies have revealed that the σ 2 p of quantitative traits increases in populations experiencing environmental stress [12,16,20]. The problem with estimating σ 2 p even in a monoclonal strain (σ 2 g = 0) is that the estimate in general will be strongly affected by σ 2 e [17,19,21,22].…”

Section: Developmental Instabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Fluctuating Asymmetry Index, or the Solution for the Scaling Effect?

Pertoldi

Kristensen

2015

Symmetry

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Two principal methods are commonly employed for the estimation of developmental instability at the population level. Some studies use variances of morphological traits (σ 2 p), while others use fluctuating asymmetry (FA). In both cases, differences in the degree of developmental instability can be tested with an F-test, which is the most common way to compare variances. However, the variance is expected to scale proportionally to the square of the mean as there is a tendency in biological data for σ 2 p to scale proportionally to the square of the mean ( μ ): σ 2 p = Zμ ξ , where ξ is the scaling exponent, which is expected to be two for pure statistical reasons, μ is the mean of the trait and Z is a measure of individual-level variability. Because of this scaling effect, the fluctuating asymmetry will be affected, FA is estimated as the variance between the right and the left sides of a trait (σ 2 r − l = σ 2 r + σ 2 l − 2rσrσl), where σ 2 r and σ 2 l are the variances of the right and the left trait values, respectively. In this paper, we propose a novel method that allows an exact correction of the scaling effect, which will enable a proper comparison of the degree of fluctuating asymmetry for a trait. The problem of the scaling of the FA with the trait size is quite crucial if FA is to be considered an indicator of fitness or an indicator of environmental or genetic stress, as different stresses or fitness levels are typically accompanied by a change of the traits' μ .

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Developmental instability as an estimator of genetic stress

Cited by 60 publications

References 52 publications

Parental age influences developmental stability of the progeny inDrosophila

Parental age influences developmental stability of the progeny inDrosophila

Fluctuating feather asymmetry in relation to corticosterone levels is sex-dependent in Eurasian treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) nestlings

A New Fluctuating Asymmetry Index, or the Solution for the Scaling Effect?

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