Knocking out genes to reveal drivers of natural selection on phenotypic traits: a study of the fitness consequences of albinism.

Abstract excerpt

Conclusions about the adaptive significance of phenotypic traits typically rely on correlations between the trait and fitness, but pleiotropic effects of a single trait on fitness and covariation among traits can confound such comparisons. For example, a trait may have several benefits or costs which may be affected by its correlation to some other trait. We overcame this barrier by using CRISPR-Cas9 in captive...

Topics

• Animals
• Selection, Genetic
• Phenotype
• Albinism
• Bufo marinus
• Larva
• Gene Knockout Techniques