Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Oct 10;8(10):e76358.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076358. eCollection 2013.

Heritabilities of directional asymmetry in the fore- and hindlimbs of rabbit fetuses

Matteo Breno  1 , Jessica Bots, Stefan Van Dongen
Affiliations

Heritabilities of directional asymmetry in the fore- and hindlimbs of rabbit fetuses

Matteo Breno et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Directional asymmetry (DA), where at the population level symmetry differs from zero, has been reported in a wide range of traits and taxa, even for traits in which symmetry is expected to be the target of selection such as limbs or wings. In invertebrates, DA has been suggested to be non-adaptive. In vertebrates, there has been a wealth of research linking morphological asymmetry to behavioural lateralisation. On the other hand, the prenatal expression of DA and evidences for quantitative genetic variation for asymmetry may suggest it is not solely induced by differences in mechanic loading between sides. We estimate quantitative genetic variation of fetal limb asymmetry in a large dataset of rabbits. Our results showed a low but highly significant level of DA that is partially under genetic control for all traits, with forelimbs displaying higher levels of asymmetry. Genetic correlations were positive within limbs, but negative across bones of fore and hind limbs. Environmental correlations were positive for all, but smaller across fore and hind limbs. We discuss our results in light of the existence and maintenance of DA in locomotory traits.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Six long bones (humerus, radius, ulna, femur, tibia, fibula) measured on pictures of rabbit fetuses.
The skeleton is stained with Alizarin red.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Boxplots displaying the distribution of directional asymmetry (right-left) for each trait (in cm).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ribeiro AS, Eales BA, Biddle FG (2011) Learning of paw preference in mice is strain dependent, gradual and based on short-term memory of previous reaches. Anim Behav 81: 249–257 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.10.014 - DOI
    1. Carter AJR, Osborne E, Houle D (2009) Heritability of Directional Asymmetry in Drosophila melanogaster. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2009: 1–7 10.4061/2009/759159 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Leamy LJ (1999) Heritability of directional and fluctuating asymmetry for mandibular characters in random-bred mice. Journal of evolutionary Biology 12: 146–155 10.1046/j.1420-9101.1999.00023.x - DOI
    1. Auerbach BM, Ruff CB (2006) Limb bone bilateral asymmetry: variability and commonality among modern humans. J Hum Evol 50: 203–218 10.1016/j.jhevol.2005.09.004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pélabon C, Hansen TF (2008) On the adaptive accuracy of directional asymmetry in insect wing size. Evolution 62: 2855–2867 10.1111/j.15585646.2008.00495.x - DOI - PubMed

Publication types