Elevated heterozygosity in adults relative to juveniles provides evidence of viability selection on eagles and falcons

Viability selection yields adult populations that are more genetically variable than those of juveniles, producing a positive correlation between heterozygosity and survival. Viability selection could be the result of decreased heterozygosity across many loci in inbred individuals and a subsequent decrease in survivorship resulting from the expression of the deleterious alleles. Alternatively, locus-specific differences in genetic variability between adults and juveniles may be driven by forms of balancing selection, including heterozygote advantage, frequency-dependent selection or selection across temporal and spatial scales. We use a pooled sequencing approach to compare genome-wide and locus-specific genetic variability between 74 golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), 62 imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca) and 69 prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus) juveniles and adults. Although genome-wide genetic variability is comparable between juvenile and adult golden eagles and prairie falcons, im...

生存选择（Viability selection）产生的成年种群在遗传变异上比幼年种群更丰富，从而在杂合性（heterozygosity）与存活之间形成正相关。生存选择可能源于近交个体中多个基因座（loci）的杂合性降低，以及随后有害等位基因（deleterious alleles）表达导致的存活能力下降。或者，成年与幼年个体间基因变异的基因座特异性差异可能由平衡选择（balancing selection）的多种形式驱动，包括杂合子优势、频率依赖选择或跨时间与空间尺度的选择。我们采用混合测序（pooled sequencing）方法，比较了74只金雕（Aquila chrysaetos）、62只白肩雕（Aquila heliaca）和69只草原隼（Falco mexicanus）的幼年与成年个体在全基因组及基因座特异性遗传变异上的差异。尽管金雕和草原隼的幼年与成年个体在全基因组遗传变异上具有可比性，但im...