Genetic constraints and the evolution of sigmodontine rodents

• Grant number: 19/02691-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: June 06, 2019
• End date: June 05, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Quantitative Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Gabriel Henrique Marroig Zambonato
• Grantee: Bárbara Maria de Andrade Costa
• Supervisor: Scott Steppan
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Florida State University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/16598-8 - Cranial evolution of sigmodontine rodents Wagner, 1843, BP.PD

Abstract

A great challenge in evolutionary biology is to understand how complex morphological structures arise and change during evolution. The genetic covariance structure among elements (G-matrix) in a system comprises one of the most important factors determining the evolutionary trajectory and the pace of a suite of traits in a population. If G is stable, then it can be used to predict the future trajectory of phenotypes in response to selection and to reconstruct the net directional selection gradients along the evolutionary history of a certain group. In sigmodontine rodents, empirical studies over G encompass low phylogenetic levels and exhibited mixed results about G similarity within and between species. Here, we will (1) understand how similar the genetic covariance structure is within and among species and how widespread the similarity of structure of G and P can be in the sigmodontine radiation; and (2) we will evaluate the genetic constraints and the patterns of phenotypic diversification in the Sigmodontinae radiation. For this, we will have four G-matrices of sigmodontine species providing the broadest data set of the additive genetic covariance matrices of closely related species to apply in a broad-scale study of phenotypic evolution in mammals. Coupled with this, phenotypic matrices comprising all Sigmodontinae tribes will be provided. (AU)