Resolution of genetic and uterine environmental effects in a family study of new dermatoglyphic measure: Sole pattern ridge counts

Abstract

The heritability of sole pattern ridge counts was examined in two family studies of endogamous castes from peninsular India. The phenotypes included ridge counts for each of the eight configurational areas separately, all areas combined, and only distal areas combined. Differences in heritability estimates were found between populations as well as among the individual configurational areas. Although some ridge counts do not show familial resemblance, others appear to be moderately heritable. Estimates of h2 range from 0.36 to 0.63 in one family series and from 0.22 to 0.51 in the other. In addition, significant uterine environmental effects were detected in one family series but not in the other.

Prenatal Psychological Stress, Dermatoglyphic Asymmetry and Pregnancy Outcome in the Pigtailed Macaque (<i>Macaca nemestrina</i>)

“…Both the final pattern type and num ber of dermal ridges of the hand are deter mined during the embryological period and are set in the macaque by 55 days after con ception [45,46], Furthermore, the number of dermal ridges covering the various areas of the hand shows strong familial correla tions, both in the human [47,48] and ma caque monkey [49], although during early development, the ridges are also responsive to intrauterine environmental influences [50,51]. Asymmetry in the dermatoglyphic system has been used in several studies that have examined the relation between asym metry and disruption of developmental ho meostasis [32-35, 52, 53].…”

Heredity, nutrition, and craniofacial differentiation in weanling rats: A multivariate analysis

“…The maternal effect on development has been studied in rats (Naso et al, 1975;Leamy, 1977;Atchley and Rutledge, 1980;Kasser et al, 1983aKasser et al, ,b, 1986a, mice (Wahlsten, 19831, and humans (Hoshi, 1973;Nakata et al, 1974;Chung et al, 1986;Malhotra et al, 1987). The maternal effect comprises both genetic and nongenetic factors, which are collectively referred to as "congenital variation" in the present study.…”