Is there really natural selection affecting the l frequencies (long hair) in the Brazilian cat populations?
The scientific literature on cat genetics contains a presumed typical example of natural selection affecting l frequencies (long hair) in 16 Brazilian cat populations. It has been observed that the hotter and more tropical the climate in Brazil, the lower the values of l frequencies in the cat populations. Nevertheless, this study of some new cat populations in Latin America showed that all of them, independent of the climate, had high or very high l frequencies. l postulate that an alternative migrational-historical hypothesis exists that explains the correlation between the l frequencies and climate characteristics (which are correlated with the latitude) without using natural selection explanations concerning the appearance of the l allele in Brazil.
Ruiz-Garcia
M
M
Unidad Genética (Genética de Poblaciones-Biología Evolutiva), Departamento de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Columbia. mruiz@javercol.javeriana.edu.co
D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001938:Brazil; D002415:Cats / Q000235:genetics*; D002980:Climate; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics*; D005828:Genetics, Population; D006197:Hair; D010802:Phylogeny; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012641:Selection, Genetic