[Genetic ecological monitoring in human populations: heterozygosity, mtDNA haplotype variation, and genetic load].

Yu. P. Altukhov suggested that heterozygosity is an indicator of the state of the gene pool. The idea and a linked concept of genetic ecological monitoring were applied to a new dataset on mtDNA variation in East European ethnic groups. Haplotype diversity (an analog of the average heterozygosity) was shown to gradually decrease northwards. Since a similar trend is known for population density, interlinked changes were assumed for a set of parameters, which were ordered to form a causative chain: latitude increases, land productivity decreases, population density decreases, effective population size decreases, isolation of subpopulations increases, genetic drift increases, and mtDNA haplotype diversity decreases. An increase in genetic drift increases the random inbreeding rate and, consequently, the genetic load. This was confirmed by a significant correlation observed between the incidence of autosomal recessive hereditary diseases and mtDNA haplotype diversity. Based on the findings, mtDNA was assumed to provide an informative genetic system for genetic ecological monitoring; e.g., analyzing the ecology-driven changes in the gene pool.

[Genetic demographic analysis of western Ukrainian populations: the marriage structure of populations from the Khmel'nitskii oblast with respect to ethnicity and birthplace]. / Genetiko-demograficheskii analiz populiatsii zapadnoi ukrainy: brachnaia struktura populiatsii khmel'nitskoi oblasti po natsional'nosti i mestu rozhdeniia.

Ukrainians account for 85 and 91% of the populations of the city of Khmel'nitskii and the town of Starokonstantinov (Khmel'nitskii oblast, western Ukraine), respectively, and for 97% of the rural population of the Khmel'nitskii oblast. The proportions of Russians in the urban and rural populations of the Khmel'nitskii oblast are 7-10 and 1%, respectively. Between 1960 and 1995-1998, the proportions of Ukrainians in all populations studied increased and the proportion of interethnic marriages steadily decreased. The marriage association coefficient (K) with respect to ethnicity varied from 0.35 to 0.76 in different years. The highest assortative marriage indices (A') with respect to ethnicity were 75-98 and 71-84% in Ukrainians and Jews, respectively. The migration coefficient was 0.58-0.77. Western Ukrainian populations differ from eastern Ukrainian ones in a steadily decreasing outbreeding component.

[Scheme for dispersion analysis for evaluating heritability of reproductive traits in medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis L]. / Skhemy dispersionnogo analiza dlia otsenki nasleduemosti reproduktivnykh prisnakov meditsinskoi piiavki (Hirudo medicinalis L.).

ANOVA designs for estimating heritabilities of fecundity traits in Hirudo medicinalis including batch size, the number of juveniles per cocoon, and juvenile weight. Accounting for reproduction mode of this species, different types of kinship were identified, which were taken into account in the ANOVA designs: juveniles from one batch and one cocoon were considered respectively full sibs and polyzygotic twins. Variation components were analyzed in the following kinship groups: for batch size, in full sibs; for the number of juveniles per cocoon, between sibships, full sins, and replicates; and for juvenile weight, in full sibs and polyzygotic twins. Using these designs, heritabilities of basic reproductive traits of H. medicinalis were obtained: for batch size, h2 = 0.35-0.40, H2 = 0.40-0.45; for the number of juveniles per cocoon, h2 = 0.33-0.36, H2 = 0.36-0.39; and for juvenile weight, h2 = 0.40-0.44, H2 = 0.44-0.48.

[Predicting efficiency of selection on reproductive traits in the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis L]. / Prognozirovanie éffektivnosti otbora po reproduktivnym priznakam u meditsinskoi piiavki (Hirudo medicinalis L.).

A set of selection measures for increasing reproduction efficiency in Hirudo medicinalis has been developed. The optimal values of reproductive traits corresponding to the highest progeny number were determined and recommended. The probability of correlated selection response in traits "number of threads in a cocoon" and "weight of threads" was estimated. Based on earlier results on phenotypic variation and heritability of reproductive traits in medicinal leech, efficiency of different selection modes was predicted.

[Inheritance of reproductive traits of medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis L.)]. / Nasleduemost' reproduktivnykh priznakov meditsinskoi piiavki (Hirudo medicinalis L.).

The phenotype variability and inheritance of reproductive traits were investigated in the medicinal leech. Distribution parameters were determined for the following traits: batch size (X = 4.3 +/- 0.2, sigma = 1.7, CV = 40%, As = 0.23 +/- 0.25, Ex = 0.19 +/- 0.51), number of juveniles in a cocoon (X = 10.9 +/- 0.3, sigma = 4.6, CV = 42%, As = 0.31 +/- 0.15, Ex = 0.23 +/- 0.30), and juvenile weight (X = 32.0 +/- 0.3, sigma = 14.9, CV = 47%, As = 1.38 +/- 0.05, Ex = 3.32 +/- 0.11. A nonlinear negative correlation between the number of juveniles in a cocoon and their weight was found (correlation ratio R = 0.86). It was shown that the environmental variance dominated over the genotypic one in the structure of phenotypic variance of the traits studied. The genetic variability is determined mainly by additive gene interactions and, to a small extent, intralocus dominance. The narrow-sense heritability, h2, for batch size was 0.35-0.40; for the number of juveniles in a cocoon, 0.35; for juvenile weight, 0.42.