Quantitative genetic variation in body size of mice from new mutations.

To measure the amount of new genetic variation in 6-week weight of mice arising each generation from mutation, selection lines derived from an initially inbred strain were maintained for 25 generations. An analysis using an animal model with restricted maximum likelihood was applied to estimate a mutational genetic component of variance for the infinitesimal model of many genes of small effect. Assuming that the inbred base population was at a mutation-drift equilibrium, it is estimated that the heritability for body size has increased by 1.0% per generation, with lower and upper confidence limits of 0.6% and 1.6%, respectively. A model which includes a mutational genetic component of variance fits the data much better than one involving only base population genetic variance. A model with no genetic component fits the data very poorly. An environmental covariance of body size of mother and offspring was included in the model and accounts for 10% of the variance. By using information only from the observed response to selection, the estimated increase in heritability from mutation is 0.3% per generation. These values are higher than published estimates for the increase in variance from spontaneous mutations in bristle traits of Drosophila, for which there are extensive data, but similar to estimates for various skeletal traits in mice.