On the negative estimates of direct and maternal genetic correlation - A review

Estimates of genetic correlation between direct and maternal effects for weaning weight of beef cattle are often negative in field data. The biological existence of this genetic antagonism has been the point at issue. Some researchers perceived such negative estimate to be an artifact from poor modeling. Recent studies on sources affecting the genetic correlation estimates are reviewed in this article. They focus on heterogeneity of the correlation by sex, selection bias caused from selective reporting, selection bias caused from splitting data by sex, sire by year interaction variance, and sire misidentification and inbreeding depression as factors contributing sire by year interaction variance. A biological justification of the genetic antagonism is also discussed. It is proposed to include the direct-maternal genetic covariance in the analytical models.