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OJB©
Online Journal of Bioinformatics©
Volume 6 : 34-41, 2005.
Morphometric and Distance Computation Software for evolutionary
studies.
Carvajal-Rodríguez A, Rodríguez MG
Departamento de Bioquímica, Genética e Inmunología, Facultad de Ciencias,
Universidad de Vigo, 36310 VIGO, Spain
Abstract
.
Carvajal-Rodríguez A, Rodríguez MG, Morphometric and Distance Computation Software for evolutionary studies, Onl J Bioinform., 6 : 34-41,
2005. In
evolutionary studies, quantitative differences within and between populations
require the measurement of specific quantitative traits such as size and shape.
Geometric morphometry distinguishes shape and size precisely. Currently there are
freely available programs such as tpsRelw but there
is no program which allows for hierarchical structured data or ANOVA tests
to estimate genetic components of quantitative variation within and between
populations. MODICOS (MOrphometry and DIstance COmputation Software
oriented for evolutionary studies) is a computer program with a user-friendly
Windows 95/98/2000/NT/XP interface. MODICOS computes some morphometric measures
as centroid size, uniform and non-uniform components of shape and uses them to calculate
estimates of quantitative (heritable) variation both at the intra and
inter-population level. Specifically, MODICOS computes additive genetic
variances of size and shape measurements both for half sib or full sib family
design (one way ANOVA) and inter-population differentiation measure QST (two way ANOVA). To
show the use of MODICOS, a complete analysis (morphometric and genetic) was
performed using a sample of two different ecotypes of Littorina saxatilis
(rough periwinkle), each with 29 and 30 families respectively, and 3
individuals per family. It seems that the non-uniform shape component is more
efficient capturing the effect of natural selection onto the two different
ecotypes. This program may be viewed here.
KEYWORDS: Software, quantitative
genetic variation