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doi:10.1534/genetics.105.049817
A more recent version of this article appeared on April 1, 2006.
REGULAR RESEARCH PAPERS |
Variable pleiotropic effects from mutations at the same locus hamper prediction of fitness from a phenotype
Kim M Pepin 1*, Melanie Samuel 2 and Holly Wichman 1
1 University of Idaho
2 Washington University
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pepi8744{at}uidaho.edu.
Submitted on August 18, 2005
Revised on September 26, 2005
Accepted on 22 November 2005
The relationship of genotype, fitness components, and fitness can be complicated by genetic effects such as pleiotropy and epistasis, and by heterogeneous environments. However, because it is often difficult to measure genotype and fitness directly, fitness components are commonly used to estimate fitness without regard to genetic architecture. The small bacteriophage 
X174 enables direct evaluation of genetic and environmental effects on fitness components and fitness. We used 15 mutants to study mutation effects on attachment rate and fitness in six hosts. The mutants differed from our lab strain of X174 by only one or two amino acids in the major capsid protein (gpF; sites 101, 102). The sites are variable in natural and experimentally evolved X174 populations, and affect phage attachment rate. Within the limits of detection of our assays, all mutations were neutral or deleterious relative to the wildtype; 11/15 mutants had decreased host range. While fitness was predictable from attachment rate in most cases, 3/15 mutants had rapid attachment but low fitness on most hosts. Thus some mutations had a pleiotropic effect on a fitness component other than attachment rate. In addition, on one host most mutants had high attachment rate but decreased fitness, suggesting that pleiotropic effects also depended on host. The data highlight that even in this simple well-characterized system, prediction of fitness from a fitness component depends on genetic architecture and environment.
Key Words: fitness, genetic basis, host range, phenotype, pleiotropy
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