Gleeson, Alfie; (2023) The genomic evolution of great ape craniofacial anatomy. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

We share >97% of our DNA and a large amount of homologous anatomy with our closest living relatives, the great apes. Despite this high level of similarity, the great ape face is a diverse phenotype between and within species. Our understanding of the evolutionary pressures that generate this diversity is limited, although some previous studies have intriguingly suggested that balancing selection could maintain facial diversity, due to the signaling of individual identity. This project investigates the levels of morphological and genetic diversity in the great ape face, and the degree to which natural selection may have maintained facial diversity in great apes, using high density geometric morphometrics and population genetics. Specifically, we investigate and then compare levels of anatomical diversity in the great ape face using a high-density morphometric approach. We then utilise genome wide association studies to identify a set of genes associated with facial variation in humans (face genes), from which we calculate levels of genetic diversity across great ape genomes. Then we compare these estimates of morphological diversity and genetic diversity across the great apes. Finally, we investigate the signatures of balancing selection in these face genes across the great apes. This project will improve the understanding of the evolution of complex traits, such as the face, by providing comprehensive analysis of intraspecific diversity within the great ape face and the mechanisms that generate it.

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