Genetic conflict between sexual signalling and juvenile survival in the three-spined stickleback

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Research Article

Alberto Velando¹  Sin-Yeon Kim¹ 

[1] Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, 36310, Vigo, Spain;

关键词: Antagonistic pleiotropy;    Animal model;    Carotenoid;    Genetic correlation;    Good genes;    Sexual conflict;    Sexual trait;    Survival;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-016-0613-4

 received in 2015-10-14, accepted in 2016-02-11,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSecondary sexual traits and mating preferences may evolve in part because the offspring of attractive males inherit attractiveness and other genetically correlated traits such as fecundity and viability. A problem regarding these indirect genetic mechanisms is how sufficient genetic variation in the traits subject to sexual selection is maintained within a population. Here we explored the additive genetic correlations between carotenoid-based male ornament colouration, female fecundity and juvenile survival rate in the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to test the possibility that attractiveness genes reduce important fitness components in the bearers not expressing the sexual trait.ResultsMale sexual attractiveness (i.e., red nuptial colouration) as well as female fecundity and juvenile viability showed heritable variations in the three-spined stickleback. Thus, females can gain indirect benefits by mating with an attractive male. There was a strong positive genetic correlation between female fecundity and juvenile viability. However, red sexual signal of male sticklebacks was negatively genetically correlated with juvenile survival, suggesting genetic conflict between attractiveness and viability. There was no significant correlation between attractiveness of brothers and fecundity of sisters, suggesting no intra-locus sexual conflict.ConclusionsThe negative effects of mating with a colourful male on offspring viability may contribute to maintaining the heritable variation under strong directional sexual selection. The strength of indirect sexual selection may be weaker than previously thought due to the hidden genetic conflicts.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Kim and Velando. 2016