A genomic approach to understanding the maintenance of genetic variation under sexual selection (2011-2016)
Abstract
The coexistence of abundant heritable phenotypic variation and strong selection in natural populations is an enduring problem for quantitative genetics. A deeper understanding of the problem requires species where the dual study of phenotypic selection and the genetic variants contributing to trait variation is feasible. This project combines genomic analysis, microevolutionary theory and a model Australian insect system powerful for understanding phenotypic selection, to identify segregating variants contributing to evolutionary change, estimates of their pleiotropic effects, and critically, their frequencies in nature. The data will permit unprecedented tests of hypotheses for the maintenance of genetic variation under selection.
