The genetic architecture of maternal effects across ontogeny in the red deer
Julie Gaüzere, Josephine M. Pemberton, Seán Morris, Alison Morris, Loeske E. B. Kruuk, Craig A. Walling
Abstract
= 0.17). For these two traits, the genetic correlation between maternal and direct additive effects was not significantly different from zero, indicating no constraint to evolution from genetic architecture. In contrast, variance in maternal genetic effects enhanced the additive genetic variance available to respond to natural selection. Maternal effect variance was negligible for late-life traits. We found no evidence for sex differences in either the direct or maternal genetic architecture of offspring traits. Our results suggest that maternal genetic effect variance declines over the lifetime, but also that this additional heritable genetic variation may facilitate evolutionary responses of early-life traits.