In 1964, Walter Rothenbuhler proposed a two gene
model to explain phenotypic variance in the
remarkable behavior in which honey bee workers remove
dead brood from their colonies. Rothenbuhler's model
proposed that one locus controls the uncapping of brood
cells containing dead pupae, while a second controls the
removal of the cell contents. We show here, through
molecular techniques and quantitative trait loci (QTL)
linkage mapping, that the genetic basis of hygienic
behavior is more complex, and that many genes are
likely to contribute to the behavior. In our cross, we
detected seven suggestive QTLs associated with hygienic
behavior. Each detected QTL controlled only 9–15% of
the observed phenotypic variance in the character.
We expected to find two (Rothenbuhler 1964), or
perhaps three (Moritz 1988), QTLs of major effect on
hygienic behavior. However in our experiment we did not
find any evidence for such genes. Instead we found that
the behavior seems to be inherited in a more quantitative
manner. Thus although our quantitative genetic analysis
of repeatability and the QTL analysis confirm Rothenbuhler's
findings that hygienic behavior has a strong
genetic component (as expected by the success of
selection for the character), we cannot confirm the
existence of two genes of major effect that control
hygienic behavior.
Seven suggestive quantitative trait loci influence hygienic behavior
of honey bees
Keryn L. Lapidge · Benjamin P. Oldroyd ·Marla Spivak
Naturwissenschaften (2002) 89:565–568
* * *
When scientists opened up the human genome,
they expected to find the genetic components of
common traits and diseases.
But they were nowhere to be seen.
Although flummoxed by this missing heritability,
geneticists remain optimistic that they
can find more of it. "These are very early days,
and there are things that are doable in the next
year or two that may well explain another sizeable
chunk of heritability," says Hirschhorn.
There could be scarier and more intractable
reasons for unaccounted-for heritability that
are not even being discussed. "It's a possibility
that there's something we just don't fundamentally
understand," Kruglyak says. "That it's so
different from what we're thinking about that
we're not thinking about it yet."
"You have this clear, tangible phenomenon in which
children resemble their parents," he says.
"Despite what students get told in elementary-school
science, we just don't know how that works."
The case of the missing heritability
NATURE|Vol 456|6 November 2008
--
Peter L Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst
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