The objectives of this study were to extend the double hierarchical generalized linear model (DHGLM) of RР“В¶nnegР“Тђrd et al. In addition, to date, no suitable method was available to estimate such correlations in outbred populations and the requirements in terms of number of families and family sizes of the designs necessary to estimate genetic parameters of macro- and micro-environmental sensitivities were unknown. In farm animals, the genetic correlation between macro- and micro-environmental sensitivities has not been investigated. In Drosophila melanogaster, both positive and negative genetic correlations between macro- and micro-environmental sensitivities have been reported observed a weak genetic correlation between developmental noise, similar to micro-environmental sensitivity, and macro-environmental sensitivity in Daphnia Magna. identified only a few QTL for micro-environmental sensitivity, but did not detect any QTL for macro-environmental sensitivity. In a mapping study of QTL for macro- and micro-environmental sensitivities in barley, Kraakman et al. detected different sets of genes for macro- and micro-environmental sensitivities. In another paper, also on Populus, Wu and O'Malley showed that micro-environmental sensitivity was less heritable than macro-environmental sensitivity and that they were weakly genetically correlated. reported that both types of environmental sensitivity were weakly genetically correlated for most traits in Nicotiana rustica. postulated the concepts of macro- and micro-environmental sensitivity and studied both in Nicotiana rustica but did not investigate the relationships between these two types of environmental sensitivity. reviewed 14 studies on this subject and concluded that there is empirical evidence for the existence of genetic variance in environmental variance.Р”Р„lthough there is substantial evidence for genetic variance in macro- and micro-environmental sensitivities, very few studies have studied them together or studied their genetic relationship. and double hierarchical generalized linear models (DHGLM) in a REML setting Recently, there has been renewed interest on this topic due to the development of methods to estimate genetic variance in environmental variance, e.g.

In evolutionary genetics, several studies have focused on canalization, i.e.

The genetics of micro-environmental sensitivity or environmental variance have been studied less extensively than the genetics of macro-environmental sensitivity. populations that showed the existence of genetic variation in phenotypic plasticity to temperature change. Other examples of studies on wild life populations include analyses of great tit In evolutionary genetics, many experiments on Drosophila and other laboratory species have been carried out to understand the genetics of macro-environmental sensitivity or phenotypic plasticity In recent years, reaction norm models have been applied in animal breeding to better understand the environmental factors that determine G Р“вЂ” E interactions Different modeling approaches have been used Numerous studies in the last 70 years have studied G Р“вЂ” E interactions or genetics of macro-environmental sensitivity in animal and plant breeding as well as in evolutionary biology Genetic variance in micro-environmental sensitivity is the genetic variance due to unknown environmental factors and can be expressed as differences in environmental variance, sometimes called genetic heterogeneity of environmental variance If environments are categorized, then phenotypes in different environments are considered as separate traits and the genetic covariances between environments are a measure of genetic variation in macro-environmental sensitivity. Therefore, genetic variance in macro-environmental sensitivity is the genetic variance due to known environmental factors and can be expressed as the genetic variance in the slope of a reaction norm when environments can be quantified on a continuous scale. Other environmental factors are unknown and referred to as micro-environmental factors

Some environmental factors (e.g., temperature, soil, diet, etc.) are identifiable and can be categorised (e.g., temperate or tropical climate) or quantified (e.g., temperature) and thus are referred to as macro-environmental factors. and that genotypes differ in their response to environmental factors, which means that genetic variance for environmental sensitivity or phenotypic plasticity exists The term РІР‚Сљgenotype by environment (G Р“вЂ” E) interactionРІР‚Сњ refers to the fact that the best genotype in one environment may not be the best genotype in another environment

Dhglm asreml-r