Abstract
Meristic trait variation among species and populations has long been used as the basis for identification and classification of fishes. Within Oncorhynchus mykiss, there is considerable variation in meristic characters such as numbers of vertebrae, lateral line scales, fin rays, gill rakers, and pyloric caeca. In our laboratory the Oregon State University (OSU) rainbow trout and the Clearwater River (CW) steelhead trout clonal lines, produced by androgenesis, exhibit significant differences in values for meristic traits, making quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis of these meristic characters possible. Our objective was to determine the number, location, and effects of QTL associated with meristic characters in order to test two hypotheses: (1) that QTL for different meristic traits co-localize to the same linkage group and (2) that meristic trait QTL co-localize to the same linkage group as a previously identified development rate QTL. Doubled haploid individuals, produced by androgenesis from sperm from an F1 hybrid between the OSU and CW lines, were used to evaluate the joint segregation of each meristic phenotype and Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphic marker genotypes. Composite interval mapping revealed QTL for six of the seven traits analyzed. One QTL each for scales above the lateral line and for gill rakers co-localized to the same position. Only one QTL for scales above the lateral line co-localized to the same region as that for the development rate QTL, but a greater map resolution is necessary to determine if these loci are truly the same. We failed to detect pleiotropy for most meristic trait QTL. Our results suggest that different major loci are associated with variation in each meristic character and that the expression of these loci may be influenced by maternal and external environmental factors.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barlow, G.W. 1961. Causes and significance of morphological variation in fishes. System. Zool. 10: 105–117.
Basten, C.J., B.S. Weir & Z.-B. Zeng. 1994. Zmap-a QTL cartographer. pp. 65–66. In: C. Smith, J.S. Gavora, B. Benkel, J. Chesnais, W. Fairfull, J.P. Gibson, B.W. Kennedy & E.B. Burnside (ed.) Proceedings of the 5th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production: Computing Strategies and Software, Vol. 22, 5th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Basten, C.J., B.S. Weir & Z.-B. Zeng. 2002. QTL Cartographer, Version 1.16. Department of Statistics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
Behnke, R.J. 1992. Native trout of western North America. American Fisheries Society Monograph 6, Bethesda, MD. 275 pp.
Bergot, P., J.M. Blanc & A.M. Escaffre. 1981. Relationship between number of pyloric caeca and growth in rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri Richardson). Aquaculture 22: 81–96.
Bost, B., D. de Vienne, F. Hospital, L. Moreau & C. Dillmann, 2001. Genetic and nongenetic bases for the L-shaped distribution of quantitative trait loci effects. Genetics 157: 1773–1787.
Brunelli, J.P., B.D. Robison & G.H. Thorgaard. 2001. Ancient and recent duplications of the rainbow trout Wilms' tumor gene. Genome 44: 455–462.
Buddington, R.K. & J.M. Diamond. 1986. Aristotle revisited: The function of pyloric caeca in fish. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 83: 8012–8014.
Churchill, G.A. & R.W. Doerge. 1994. Empirical threshold values for quantitative trait mapping. Genetics 138: 963–971.
Danzmann, R.G. & M.M. Ferguson. 1990. Developmental events. pp. 281–311. In: D.H. Whitmore (ed.) Electrophoretic and Isoelectric Focusing Techniques in Fisheries Management, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Doerge, R.W. & G.A. Churchill. 1996. Permutation tests for multiple loci affecting a quantitative character. Genetics 142: 285–294.
Ferguson, M.M., K.L. Knudsen, R.G. Danzmann & F.W. Allendorf. 1988. Developmental rate and viability of rainbow trout with a null allele at a lactate dehydrogenase locus. Biochem. Genet. 26: 177–189.
Ferguson, M.M. & A.P. Liskauskas. 1995. Heritability and evolution of meristic variation in a naturalized population of brook char (Salvelinus fontinalis). Nordic J. Freshw. Res. 71: 217–228.
Fowler, J.A. 1970. Control of vertebral number in teleosts-an embryological problem. Quart. Rev. Biol. 45: 148–167.
Gabriel, M.L. 1944. Factors affecting the number and form of vertebrae in Fundulus heteroclitus. J. Exp. Zool. 95: 105–147.
Garside, E.T. 1966. Developmental rate and vertebral number in salmonids. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 23: 1537–1551.
Hubbs, C.L. & K.F. Lagler. 1956. Fishes of the Great Lakes Region, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. 186 pp.
Kirpichnikov, V.S. 1981. Genetic Bases of Fish Selection, Springer-Verlag, New York. 410 pp.
Lander, E.S., P. Green, J. Abrahamson, A. Barlow & M.J. Daly. 1987. MAPMAKER: An interactive computer package for constructing primary genetic linkage maps of experimental and natural populations. Genomics 1: 174–181.
Leary, R.F., F.W. Allendorf & K.L. Knudsen. 1984. Major morphological effects of a regulatory gene: pgm1-t in rainbow trout. Mol. Biol. Evol. 1: 183–194.
Leary, R.F., F.W. Allendorf & K.L. Knudsen. 1985. Inheritance of meristic variation and the evolution of developmental stability in rainbow trout. Evolution 39: 308–314.
Leary, R.F., F.W. Allendorf & K.L. Knudsen. 1992. Genetic, environmental, and developmental causes of meristic variation in rainbow trout. Acta Zool. Fenn. 191: 79–95.
Lindsey, C.C. 1955. Evolution of meristic relations in the dorsal and anal fin supports of teleost fishes. Trans. R. Soc. Can. Sec. 5, Vol. 49, Ser. III: 35–49.
Lindsey, C.C. 1988. Factors controlling meristic variation. pp. 197–274. In: W.S. Hoar & D.J. Randall (ed.) Fish Physiology, Vol. 11B, Academic Press, New York.
Lindsey, C.C., A.M. Brett & D.P. Swain. 1984. Responses of vertebral numbers in rainbow trout to temperature changes during development. Can. J. Zool. 62: 391–396.
Lynch, M. & B. Walsh. 1998. Genetics and Analysis of Quantitative Traits, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA. 980 pp.
MacGregor, R.B. & H.R. MacCrimmon. 1977a. Evidence of genetic and environmental influences on meristic variation in the rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson. Environ. Biol. Fish. 1: 25–33.
MacGregor, R.B. & H.R. MacCrimmon. 1977b. Meristic variation among world hatchery stocks of rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson. Environ. Biol. Fish. 1: 127–143.
Mottley, C.McC. 1934. The effect of temperature during development on the number of scales in the Kamloops trout, Salmo kamloops Jordan. Contrib. Can. Biol. 8: 253–263.
Nichols, K.M., W.P. Young, R.G. Danzmann, B.D. Robison, C. Rexroad, M. Noakes, R.B. Phillips, P. Bentzen, I. Spies, K. Knudsen, F.W. Allendorf, B.M. Cunningham, J. Brunelli, H. Zhang, S. Ristow, R. Drew, K.H. Brown, P.A. Wheeler & G.H. Thorgaard. (2003). A consolidated genetic linkage map for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Animal Genet. 34: 102–115.
Northcote, T.G. & R.J. Paterson. 1960. Relationship between the number of pyloric caeca and length of juvenile rainbow trout. Copeia 1960: 248–250.
Parrott, A.W. 1934. The variability and growth of the scales of brown trout (Salmo trutta) in New Zealand. Trans. New Zeal. Inst. 63: 497–516.
Ristow, S.S., L.D. Grabowski, C. Ostberg, B. Robison & G.H. Thorgaard. 1998. Development of long-term cell lines from homozygous clones of rainbow trout. J. Aquat. Animal Health 10: 75–82.
Robison, B.D., P.A. Wheeler & G.H. Thorgaard. 1999. Variation in development rate among clonal lines of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Aquaculture 173: 131–141.
Robison, B.D., P.A. Wheeler, K. Sundin, P. Sikka & G.H. Thorgaard. 2001. Composite interval mapping reveals a major locus influencing embryonic development rate in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). J. Hered. 92: 16–22.
Sakamoto, T., R.G. Danzmann, K. Gharbi, P. Howard, A. Ozaki, S.K. Khoo, R.A. Woram, N. Okamoto, M.M. Ferguson, L.-E. Holm, R. Guyomard & B. Hoyheim. 2000. A microsatellite linkage map of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) characterized by large sex-specific differences in recombination rates. Genetics 155: 1331–1345.
Smith, C.L. & R.M. Bailey. 1961. Evolution of dorsal fin supports of percoid fishes. Papers Mich. Acad. Sci. 46: 345–363.
Voorrips, R.E. 2002. MapChart: Software for the graphical presentation of linkage maps and QTL. J. Hered. 93: 77–78.
Vos, P., R. Hogers, M. Bleeker, M. Reijans, T. Van De Lee, M. Hornes, A. Frijters, J. Pot, J. Peleman, M. Kuiper & M. Zabeau. 1995. AFLP: A new technique for DNA fingerprinting. Nucl. Acids Res. 23: 4407–4414.
Young, W.P., P.A. Wheeler & G.H. Thorgaard. 1995. Asymmetry and variability of meristic characters and spotting in isogenic lines of rainbow trout. Aquaculture 137: 67–76.
Young, W.P., P.A. Wheeler, R.D. Fields & G.H. Thorgaard. 1996. DNA fingerprinting confirms isogenicity of androgenetically derived rainbow trout lines. J. Hered. 87: 77–81.
Young, W.P., P.A. Wheeler, V.H. Coryell, P. Keim & G.H. Thorgaard. 1998. A detailed genetic linkage map of rainbow trout produced using doubled haploids. Genetics 148: 839–850.
Zeng, Z.-B. 1994. Precision mapping of quantitative trait loci. Genetics 136: 1457–1468.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nichols, K.M., Wheeler, P.A. & Thorgaard, G.H. Quantitative Trait Loci Analyses for Meristic Traits in Oncorhynchus mykiss . Environmental Biology of Fishes 69, 317–331 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EBFI.0000022905.72702.0e
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:EBFI.0000022905.72702.0e