Absence seizures in C3H/HeJ and knockout mice caused by mutation of the AMPA receptor subunit Gria4

Absence epilepsy, characterized by spike–wave discharges (SWD) in the electroencephalogram, arises from aberrations within the circuitry of the cerebral cortex and thalamus that regulates awareness. The inbred mouse strain C3H/HeJ is prone to absence seizures, with a major susceptibility locus, spkw1, accounting for most of the phenotype. Here we find that spkw1 is associated with a hypomorphic retroviral-like insertion mutation in the Gria4 gene, encoding one of the four amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) receptor subunits in the brain. Consistent with this, Gria4 knockout mice also have frequent SWD and do not complement spkw1. In contrast, null mutants for the related gene Gria3 do not have SWD, and Gria3 loss actually lowers SWD of spkw1 homozygotes. Gria3 and Gria4 encode the predominant AMPA receptor subunits in the reticular thalamus, which is thought to play a central role in seizure genesis by inhibiting thalamic relay cells and promoting rebound burst firing responses. In Gria4 mutants, synaptic excitation of inhibitory reticular thalamic neurons is enhanced, with increased duration of synaptic responses—consistent with what might be expected from reduction of the kinetically faster subunit of AMPA receptors encoded by Gria4. These results demonstrate for the first time an essential role for Gria4 in the brain, and suggest that abnormal AMPA receptor-dependent synaptic activity can be involved in the network hypersynchrony that underlies absence seizures

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Standing genetic variance for female resistance to harm from males and its relationship to intralocus sexual conflict

Interlocus sexual conflict theory predicts that some male adaptations are harmful to their mates. Females are therefore expected to evolve resistance to this harm. Using cytogenetic cloning techniques, we tested for heritable genetic variation among females for resistance to harm from males and determined whether propensity to remate, female body size, and intralocus conflict contributes to this variation. We found low but significant heritability for female resistance, but this variation accounted for more than half of the standing genetic variation for net fitness among females. We found no association between female resistance and female body size or level of intralocus sexual conflict. Reluctance to remate was found to be an important factor contributing to the female resistance phenotype, and we found a positive selection gradient on this trait. However, we observed only a nonsignificant positive correlation between a female's resistance and her net fitness. One factor contributing to the observed nominal level of selection on female resistance was that males cause the greatest amount of harm to females with the highest intrinsic fecundity

Assessing the potential for an ongoing arms race within and between the sexes: selection and heritable variation

In promiscuous species, sexual selection generates two opposing male traits: offense (acquiring new mates and supplanting stored sperm) and defense (enforcing fidelity on one\u27s mates and preventing sperm displacement when this fails). Coevolution between these traits requires both additive genetic variation and associated natural selection. Previous work with Drosophila melanogaster found autosomal genetic variation for these traits among inbred lines from a mixture of populations, but only nonheritable genetic variation was found within a single outbred population. These results do not support ongoing antagonistic coevolution between offense and defense, nor between either of these male traits and female reproductive characters. Here we use a new method (hemiclonal analysis) to study genomewide genetic variation in a large outbred laboratory population of D. melanogaster. Hemiclonal analysis estimates the additive genetic variation among random, genomewide haplotypes taken from a large, outbred, locally adapted laboratory population and determines the direction of the selection gradient on this variation. In contrast to earlier studies, we found low but biologically significant heritable variation for defensive and offensive offspring production as well as all their components (P1, fidelity, P2, and remating). Genetic correlations between these traits were substantially different from those reported for inbred lines. A positive genetic correlation was found between defense and offense, demonstrating that some shared genes influence both traits. In addition to this common variation, evidence for unique genetic variation for each trait was also found, supporting an ongoing coevolutionary arms race between defense and offense. Reproductive conflict between males can strongly influence female fitness. Correspondingly, we found genetic variation in both defense and offense that affected female fitness. No evidence was found for intersexual conflict in the context of male defense, but we found substantial intersexual conflict in the context of male offensive sperm competitive ability. These results indicate that conflict between competing males also promotes an associated arms race between the sexes. © 2005 The Society for the Study of Evolution. All rights reserved

Inter-locus antagonistic coevolution as an engine of speciation: Assessment with hemiclonal analysis

One of Ernst Mayr's legacies is the consensus that the allopatry model is the predominant mode of speciation in most sexually reproducing lineages. In this model, reproductive isolation develops as a pleiotropic byproduct of the genetic divergence that develops among physically isolated populations. Presently, there is no consensus concerning which, if any, evolutionary process is primarily responsible for driving the specific genetic divergence that leads to reproductive isolation. Here, we focus on the hypothesis that inter-locus antagonistic coevolution drives rapid genetic divergence among allopatric populations and thereby acts as an important “engine” of speciation. We assert that only data from studies of experimental evolution, rather than descriptive patterns of molecular evolution, can provide definitive evidence for this hypothesis. We describe and use an experimental approach, called hemiclonal analysis, that can be used in the Drosophila melanogaster laboratory model system to simultaneously screen nearly the entire genome for both standing genetic variation within a population and the net-selection gradient acting on the variation. Hemiclonal analysis has four stages: (i) creation of a laboratory “island population”; (ii) cytogenetic cloning of nearly genome-wide haplotypes to construct hemiclones; (iii) measurement of additive genetic variation among hemiclones; and (iv) measurement of the selection gradient acting on phenotypic variation among hemiclones. We apply hemiclonal analysis to test the hypothesis that there is ongoing antagonistic coevolution between the sexes in the D. melanogaster laboratory model system and then discuss the relevance of this analysis to natural systems