Rajasingh Hannah, Gjuvsland Arne B, Våge Dag Inge, Omholt Stig W
Centre for Integrative Genetics (CIGENE) and Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, N-1432 As, Norway.
Genetics. 2008 Jun;179(2):1113-8. doi: 10.1534/genetics.108.087064. Epub 2008 May 27.
The Pacific chinook salmon occurs as both white- and red-fleshed populations, with the flesh color type (red or white) seemingly under strong genetic influence. Previously published data on crosses between red- and white-fleshed individuals cannot be reconciled with a simple Mendelian two-locus, two-allele model, pointing to either a more complex inheritance pattern or the existence of gene interactions. Here we show that a standard single-locus, three-allele model can fully explain these data. Moreover, by implementing the single-locus model at the parameter level of a previously developed mathematical model describing carotenoid dynamics in salmon, we show that variation at a single gene involved in the muscle uptake of carotenoids is able to explain the available data. This illustrates how such a combined approach can generate biological understanding that would not be possible in a classical population genetic explanatory structure. An additional asset of this approach is that by allowing parameters to become phenotypes obeying a given genetic model, biological interpretations of mechanisms involved at a resolution level far beyond what is built into the original dynamic model are made possible. These insights can in turn be exploited in experimental studies as well as in construction of more detailed models.
太平洋奇努克鲑有红肉和白肉两种种群，其肉色类型（红色或白色）似乎受到强大的基因影响。先前发表的关于红肉和白肉个体杂交的数据与简单的孟德尔双基因座、双等位基因模型不符，这表明存在更复杂的遗传模式或基因相互作用。在此，我们表明一个标准的单基因座、三等位基因模型能够完全解释这些数据。此外，通过在先前开发的描述鲑鱼中类胡萝卜素动态的数学模型的参数水平上应用单基因座模型，我们表明参与肌肉摄取类胡萝卜素的单个基因的变异能够解释现有数据。这说明了这种组合方法如何能够产生在经典群体遗传解释结构中无法实现的生物学理解。这种方法的另一个优点是，通过允许参数成为遵循给定遗传模型的表型，可以在远远超出原始动态模型构建水平的分辨率上对所涉及的机制进行生物学解释。这些见解反过来可用于实验研究以及构建更详细的模型。
