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Parrett JM, Łukasiewicz A, Chmielewski S, Szubert-Kruszyńska A, Maurizio PL, Grieshop K, Radwan J. A sexually selected male weapon characterized by strong additive genetic variance and no evidence for sexually antagonistic polyphenic maintenance. Evolution 2023; 77:1289-1302. [PMID: 36848265 PMCID: PMC10234106 DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpad039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Revised: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/01/2023]
Abstract
Sexual selection and sexual antagonism are important drivers of eco-evolutionary processes. The evolution of traits shaped by these processes depends on their genetic architecture, which remains poorly studied. Here, implementing a quantitative genetics approach using diallel crosses of the bulb mite, Rhizoglyphus robini, we investigated the genetic variance that underlies a sexually selected weapon that is dimorphic among males and female fecundity. Previous studies indicated that a negative genetic correlation between these two traits likely exists. We found male morph showed considerable additive genetic variance, which is unlikely to be explained solely by mutation-selection balance, indicating the likely presence of large-effect loci. However, a significant magnitude of inbreeding depression also indicates that morph expression is likely to be condition-dependent to some degree and that deleterious recessives can simultaneously contribute to morph expression. Female fecundity also showed a high degree of inbreeding depression, but the variance in female fecundity was mostly explained by epistatic effects, with very little contribution from additive effects. We found no significant genetic correlation, nor any evidence for dominance reversal, between male morph and female fecundity. The complex genetic architecture underlying male morph and female fecundity in this system has important implications for our understanding of the evolutionary interplay between purifying selection and sexually antagonistic selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan M Parrett
- Evolutionary Biology Group, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
| | - Aleksandra Łukasiewicz
- Evolutionary Biology Group, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
| | - Sebastian Chmielewski
- Evolutionary Biology Group, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
| | | | - Paul L Maurizio
- Department of Medicine, Section of Genetic Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States
| | - Karl Grieshop
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
- Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Jacek Radwan
- Evolutionary Biology Group, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
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Buzatto BA, Clark HL. Selection for Male Weapons Boosts Female Fecundity, Eliminating Sexual Conflict in the Bulb Mite. Sci Rep 2020; 10:2311. [PMID: 32047190 PMCID: PMC7012872 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-59254-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2019] [Accepted: 01/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Extreme differences between the sexes are usually explained by intense sexual selection on male weapons or ornaments. Sexually antagonistic genes, with a positive effect on male traits but a negative effect on female fitness, create a negative inter-sexual correlation for fitness (sexual conflict). However, such antagonism might not be apparent if sexually selected male traits are condition-dependent, and condition elevates female fitness. Here we reveal a surprising positive genetic correlation between male weaponry and female fecundity. Using mite lines that had previously been through 13 generations of selection on male weapons (fighting legs), we investigated correlated evolution in female fecundity. Females from lines under positive selection for weapons (up lines) evolved higher fecundity, despite evolving costly, thicker legs. This is likely because male mites have condition-dependent weaponry that increases our ability to indirectly select on male condition. Alleles with positive effects on condition in both sexes could have generated this correlation because: the up lines evolved a higher proportion of fighters and there were positive correlations between weapon size and the male morph and sex ratios of the offspring. This positive inter-sexual genetic correlation should boost the evolution of male weapons and extreme sex differences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno A Buzatto
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences (M092), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia. .,Department of Biological Sciences (E8C 209), Macquarie University, Eastern Road, Sydney, 2109, NSW, Australia.
| | - Huon L Clark
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences (M092), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, 6009, WA, Australia
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Buzatto BA, Clark HL, Tomkins JL. Morph-specific artificial selection reveals a constraint on the evolution of polyphenisms. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2018.0335. [PMID: 29794046 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Theory predicts that the evolution of polyphenic variation is facilitated where morphs are genetically uncoupled and free to evolve towards their phenotypic optima. However, the assumption that developmentally plastic morphs can evolve independently has not been tested directly. Using morph-specific artificial selection, we investigated correlated evolution between the sexes and male morphs of the bulb mite Rhizoglyphus echinopus Large 'fighter' males have a thick and sharply terminating pair of legs used to kill rival males, while small 'scrambler' males have unmodified legs, and search for unguarded females, avoiding fights. We selected on the relative leg width of only the fighter male morph, tracked the evolutionary responses in fighters and the correlated evolutionary responses in scramblers and females that were untouched by direct selection. Fighters diverged in relative leg thickness after six generations; assaying scramblers and females at the ninth generation we observed correlated responses in relative leg width in both. Our results represent strong evidence for the evolution of intraspecific phenotypic diversity despite correlated evolution between morphs and sexes, challenging the idea that male morphs are genetically uncoupled and free to independently respond to selection. We therefore question the perceived necessity for genetic independence in traits with extreme phenotypic plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno A Buzatto
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Western Australia, Australia .,Department of Biological Sciences (E8C 209), Macquarie University, 6 Wally's Walk, Sydney 2109, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Huon L Clark
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Joseph L Tomkins
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley 6009, Western Australia, Australia
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Pike KN, Tomkins JL, Buzatto BA. Mixed evidence for the erosion of intertactical genetic correlations through intralocus tactical conflict. J Evol Biol 2017; 30:1195-1204. [PMID: 28430382 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2017] [Revised: 03/17/2017] [Accepted: 04/13/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Alternative reproductive tactics, whereby members of the same sex use different tactics to secure matings, are often associated with conditional intrasexual dimorphisms. Given the different selective pressures on males adopting each mating tactic, intrasexual dimorphism is more likely to arise if phenotypes are genetically uncoupled and free to evolve towards their phenotypic optima. However, in this context, genetic correlations between male morphs could result in intralocus tactical conflict (ITC). We investigated the genetic architecture of male dimorphism in bulb mites (Rhizoglyphus echinopus) and earwigs (Forficula auricularia). We used half-sibling breeding designs to assess the heritability and intra/intersexual genetic correlations of dimorphic and monomorphic traits in each species. We found two contrasting patterns; F. auricularia exhibited low intrasexual genetic correlations for the dimorphic trait, suggesting that the ITC is moving towards a resolution. Meanwhile, R. echinopus exhibited high and significant intrasexual genetic correlations for most traits, suggesting that morphs in the bulb mite may be limited in evolving to their optima. This also shows that intrasexual dimorphisms can evolve despite strong genetic constraints, contrary to current predictions. We discuss the implications of this genetic constraint and emphasize the potential importance of ITC for our understanding of intrasexual dimorphisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- K N Pike
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - J L Tomkins
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
| | - B A Buzatto
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia
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Nguyen TTX, Moehring AJ. Cross-generational comparison of reproductive success in recently caught strains of Drosophila melanogaster. BMC Evol Biol 2017; 17:41. [PMID: 28166714 PMCID: PMC5294731 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-0887-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2016] [Accepted: 01/17/2017] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Males and females often have opposing strategies for increasing fitness. Males that out-compete others will acquire more mating opportunities and thus have higher lifetime reproductive success. Females that mate with a high quality male receive either direct benefits through productivity or acquisition of additional resources or indirect benefits through the increased fitness of offspring. These components may be in conflict: factors that increase offspring fitness may decrease a female’s productivity, and alleles that are beneficial in one sex may be detrimental in the opposite sex. Here, we use a multigenerational study with recently caught strains of Drosophila melanogaster to examine the relationship between parental, male offspring, and female offspring fitness when fitness is measured in a basal non-competitive environment. Results We find synergy between parental and offspring lifetime reproductive success, indicating a lack of parent-offspring conflict, and a synergy between son and daughter reproductive success, indicating a lack of intersexual conflict. Interestingly, inbreeding significantly reduced the lifetime reproductive success of daughters, but did not have a significant effect on short-term productivity measures of daughters, sons or parents. Conclusions In wild-caught flies, there appears to be no parent-offspring conflict or intersexual conflict for loci influencing offspring production in a anon-competitive environment. Further, there may not be a biologically relevant selection pressure for avoidance of inbreeding depression in wild-type individuals of this short-lived species. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-0887-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Trinh T X Nguyen
- Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada
| | - Amanda J Moehring
- Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, N6A 5B7, Canada.
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Stewart KA, Hudson CM, Lougheed SC. Can alternative mating tactics facilitate introgression across a hybrid zone by circumventing female choice? J Evol Biol 2016; 30:412-421. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2016] [Revised: 11/12/2016] [Accepted: 11/14/2016] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- K. A. Stewart
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering; Tongji University; Shanghai China
| | - C. M. Hudson
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences; University of Sydney; Sydney NSW Australia
| | - S. C. Lougheed
- Department of Biology; Queen's University; Kingston ON Canada
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Vijendravarma RK, Kawecki TJ. Idiosyncratic evolution of maternal effects in response to juvenile malnutrition in Drosophila. J Evol Biol 2015; 28:876-84. [PMID: 25716891 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2015] [Revised: 02/23/2015] [Accepted: 02/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Maternal effects often affect fitness traits, but there is little experimental evidence pertaining to their contribution to response to selection imposed by novel environments. We studied the evolution of maternal effects in Drosophila populations selected for tolerance to chronic larval malnutrition. To this end, we performed pairwise reciprocal F1 crosses between six selected (malnutrition tolerant) populations and six unselected control populations and assessed the effect of cross direction on larval growth and developmental rate, adult weight and egg-to-adult viability expressed under the malnutrition regime. Each pair of reciprocal crosses revealed large maternal effects (possibly including cytoplasmic genetic effects) on at least one trait, but the magnitude, sign and which traits were affected varied among populations. Thus, maternal effects contributed significantly to the response to selection imposed by the malnutrition regime, but these changes were idiosyncratic, suggesting a rugged adaptive landscape. Furthermore, although the selected populations evolved both faster growth and higher viability, the maternal effects on growth rate and viability were negatively correlated across populations. Thus, genes mediating maternal effects can evolve to partially counteract the response to selection mediated by the effects of alleles on their own carriers' phenotype, and maternal effects may contribute to evolutionary trade-offs between components of offspring fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- R K Vijendravarma
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Leimar O, McNamara JM. The evolution of transgenerational integration of information in heterogeneous environments. Am Nat 2015; 185:E55-69. [PMID: 25674697 DOI: 10.1086/679575] [Citation(s) in RCA: 134] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
An organism's phenotype can be influenced by maternal cues and directly perceived environmental cues, as well as by its genotype at polymorphic loci, which can be interpreted as a genetic cue. In fluctuating environments, natural selection favors organisms that efficiently integrate different sources of information about the likely success of phenotypic alternatives. In such situations, it can be beneficial to pass on maternal cues that offspring can respond to. A maternal cue could be based on environmental cues directly perceived by the mother but also partly on cues that were passed on by the grandmother. We have used a mathematical model to investigate how the passing of maternal cues and the integration of different sources of information evolve in response to qualitatively different kinds of temporal and spatial environmental fluctuations. The model shows that the passing of maternal cues and the transgenerational integration of sources of information readily evolve. Factors such as the degree of temporal autocorrelation, the predictive accuracy of different environmental cues, and the level of gene flow strongly influence the expression of adaptive maternal cues and the relative weights given to different sources of information. We outline the main features of the relation between the characteristics of environmental fluctuations and the adaptive systems of phenotype determination and compare these predictions with empirical studies on cue integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olof Leimar
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
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Xing N, Fan C, Zhou Y. Parental selection of hybrid breeding based on maternal and paternal inheritance of traits in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.). PLoS One 2014; 9:e103165. [PMID: 25061995 PMCID: PMC4111582 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2014] [Accepted: 06/26/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Parental selection is crucial for hybrid breeding, but the methods available for such a selection are not very effective. In this study, a 6×6 incomplete diallel cross was designed using 12 rapeseed germplasms, and a total of 36 hybrids together with their parental lines were planted in 4 environments. Four yield-related traits and seed oil content (OC) were evaluated. Genetic distance (GD) was estimated with 359 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers. Heterosis levels, general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) were evaluated. GD was found to have a significant correlation with better-parent heterosis (BPH) of thousand seed weight (TSW), SCA of seeds per silique (SS), TSW, and seed yield per plant (SY), while SCA showed a statistically significant correlation with heterosis levels of all traits at 1% significance level. Statistically significant correlations were also observed between GCA of maternal or paternal parents and heterosis levels of different traits except for SS. Interestingly, maternal (TSW, SS, and OC) and paternal (siliques per plant (SP) and SY) inheritance of traits was detected using contribution ratio of maternal and paternal GCA variance as well as correlations between GCA and heterosis levels. Phenotype and heterosis levels of all the traits except TSW of hybrids were significantly correlated with the average performance of parents. The correlations between SS and SP, SP and OC, and SY and OC were statistically significant in hybrids but not in parents. Potential applications of parental selection in hybrid breeding were discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nailin Xing
- National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
| | - Chuchuan Fan
- National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
| | - Yongming Zhou
- National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
- * E-mail:
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Buzatto BA, Machado G. Male dimorphism and alternative reproductive tactics in harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones). Behav Processes 2014; 109 Pt A:2-13. [PMID: 24983786 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.06.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2014] [Revised: 06/20/2014] [Accepted: 06/20/2014] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Strong sexual selection may lead small males or males in poor condition to adopt alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) as a way to avoid the risk of being completely excluded from the mating pool. ARTs, sometimes accompanying morphological dimorphism among males, are taxonomically widespread, especially common in arthropods. Here we review the current knowledge on ARTs and male dimorphism in a diverse but relatively overlooked group of arachnids, the order Opiliones, popularly known as harvestmen or daddy long-legs. We begin with a summary of harvestman mating systems, followed by a review of the two lines of evidence for the presence of ARTs in the group: (1) morphological data from natural populations and museum collections; and (2) behavioral information from field studies. Despite receiving less attention than spiders, scorpions and insects, our review shows that harvestmen are an exciting group of organisms that are potentially great models for sexual selection studies focused on ARTs. We also suggest that investigating the proximate mechanisms underlying male dimorphism in the order would be especially important. New research on ARTs and male dimorphism will have implications for our understanding of the evolution of mating systems, sperm competition, and polyandry. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Neotropical Behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bruno A Buzatto
- Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
| | - Glauco Machado
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, trav. 14, no. 321, Cidade Universitária, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
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