Lesbarrères D, Schmeller D S, Primmer C R, Merilä J
Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
Heredity (Edinb). 2007 Jul;99(1):41-6. doi: 10.1038/sj.hdy.6800961. Epub 2007 May 2.
We investigated associations between genetic variability and two fitness-related traits--size and age at metamorphosis--in two subartic populations of the common frog, Rana temporaria. We found that metamorphic size was positively correlated with individual heterozygosity (as estimated using eight microsatellite loci) and that maternal heterozygosity also explained a significant amount of variation in this trait. In contrast, age at metamorphosis was only explained by environmental factors. Since size at metamorphosis is positively correlated with fitness in amphibians, these results suggest that genetic variability may be an important component of individual fitness in common frogs. The environmental variation underlying timing of metamorphosis may indicate that strong selection pressure on this trait in the Nordic environment is likely to override genetic effects.
我们研究了普通青蛙（欧洲林蛙）两个亚北极种群的遗传变异性与两个与适应性相关的性状——变态时的体型大小和年龄——之间的关联。我们发现，变态时的体型大小与个体杂合性呈正相关（使用八个微卫星位点进行估计），并且母体杂合性也解释了该性状的大量变异。相比之下，变态年龄仅由环境因素解释。由于变态时的体型大小与两栖动物的适应性呈正相关，这些结果表明遗传变异性可能是普通青蛙个体适应性的重要组成部分。变态时间背后的环境变异可能表明，北欧环境中对该性状的强大选择压力可能会超过遗传效应。
