Festing M F, Roderick T H
Genet Res. 1989 Feb;53(1):45-55. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300027853.
Genetic and morphometric distances between 12 inbred strains of mice ranging from closely related substrains to a sub-species were estimated using published data on single locus polymorphisms, and on the basis of up to 44 measurements on seven different bones, respectively. Simulation was also used to investigate sampling effects for the single loci. There were strong and statistically highly significant correlations among all measures of genetic distance ranging from 0.58 for the comparison of single loci with the logarithm of the Mahalanobis distance based on 24 measurements on four bones, to 0.72 for estimates of genetic distance based on single loci and the morphology of the mandible. These findings are in sharp contrast with those of Wayne & O'Brien (1986) who claimed that 'structural gene and morphometric variation of mandible traits are uncoupled between mouse strains'. Their failure to find such a correlation is probably because their sample of inbred strains included only a single pair of closely related substrains, and no substrains separated for less than 40 years, and because they failed to correct for non-linearity between morphometric and single-locus measurement scales. Simulations and regression analysis suggested that genetic distances could be estimated with approximately equal precision using morphological data on bone measurements or about 10 cladistically informative single loci, which would usually involve sampling about 50 loci. Data based on single-gene markers is usually more informative than morphometric data for studying the similarity of independently-derived strains. However, similarities among closely related populations such as sublines of an inbred strain can usually be studied more efficiently using morphometry.
利用已发表的关于单基因座多态性的数据，并分别基于对7块不同骨骼进行的多达44项测量，估算了12个近交系小鼠之间的遗传距离和形态测量距离，这些近交系小鼠涵盖了从亲缘关系密切的亚系到一个亚种的范围。还通过模拟研究了单基因座的抽样效应。在所有遗传距离测量指标之间存在很强的且在统计学上高度显著的相关性，从基于对四块骨骼进行24项测量的单基因座与马氏距离对数的比较中的0.58，到基于单基因座和下颌骨形态的遗传距离估计中的0.72。这些发现与韦恩和奥布赖恩（1986年）的发现形成了鲜明对比，他们声称“小鼠品系之间下颌骨性状的结构基因变异和形态测量变异是不相关的”。他们未能找到这种相关性，可能是因为他们的近交系样本只包括一对亲缘关系密切的亚系，且没有分离时间少于40年的亚系，还因为他们没有对形态测量和单基因座测量尺度之间的非线性进行校正。模拟和回归分析表明，使用骨骼测量的形态学数据或大约10个系统发育信息丰富的单基因座，可以以大致相同的精度估计遗传距离，这通常需要对大约50个基因座进行抽样。基于单基因标记的数据在研究独立衍生品系的相似性时通常比形态测量数据更具信息性。然而，对于研究近交系亚系等亲缘关系密切的群体之间的相似性，通常使用形态测量法能更有效地进行研究。
