Eco-evolutionary dynamics of intergenomic epistatic QTL under slight and
hard multilevel selections in community genetics
Abstract
Eco-evolutionary community genetics refers to study population genetics
at multispecies levels since a single species evolves genetically
through interactions with other species. The aim of this paper is
dynamical modeling of interspecific quantitative trait loci (QTL) under
slight and hard multilevel selection to investigate eco-evolutionary
genetic relationships among QTL of multispecies. It was found that the
simplex explained the intergenomic epistatic QTL (IEQ) dynamics in a
discrete-time model according to Wright’s manifold. Besides, the
generalized gradient system on the simplex demonstrated the IEQ dynamics
in a continuous-time model. The outcomes of slight and hard multilevel
selection on the expressions of IEQ in species were explained by the
gradient operator of the mean multilevel fitness. IEQ analysis was
integrated into community genetics according to Lande’s assumptions, so
for slight multilevel selection the geometric average of the mean
multilevel fitness specified Wright’s idea of adaptive topography. The
dynamical system for phenotypic eco-evolution under hard multilevel
selection gradient was studied and the relative mean multilevel fitness
of two selected species was estimated.