Phenotypic and genotypic modularity in Mus strains

• Grant number: 24/09366-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Effective date (Start): November 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Quantitative Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Gabriel Henrique Marroig Zambonato
• Grantee: Vítor Craveiro Fusco
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Most genes influence the determination of more than one characteristic in organisms, phenomenon called pleiotropy, with sets (modules) of genes affecting a specific group of correlated characteristics. The variation in the organization of modules is created by epistasis, the fact that the effect of a gene depends on its interaction with other loci in the genome. These changes suffered by the modules and their organization have evolutionary consequences, since the way the modules are organized influences the evolution of the characteristics. Therefore, a population of laboratory mice was created by crossing 6 strains subjected to 4 different multivariate selection regimes with the aim of modifying their growth trajectories to analyze the pleiotropic patterns that underlie the developmental processes and the evolution of these patterns, in order to examine the genetic basis of multivariate evolution and deepen our understanding of the relationship between genotype and phenotype. 1568 individuals from the F6 generation resulting from crosses made between the 6 parental lines were analyzed by obtaining various measurements of overall body size throughout the growth period and of different organs of these organisms. In addition, each of these individuals had its genome sequenced for approximately 3,800 SNPs of interest, making it possible to carry out analyses that correlate genotypic and phenotypic data in order to understand how the two interact.