Genetic Influence on Reproductive Behavior in Female Rhesus Macaques

Abstract

In a recent paper published in this journal, Cherkas et al. (2004) provided evidence that the number of sexual partners and the level of infidelity of human females are partly determined by genetic factors. The authors argued that female promiscuity and the genetic variants underlying it exist because unfaithful behavior would have been evolutionarily advantageous (Cherkas et al., 2004). A genome-wide linkage scan led to the identification of three suggestive, but nonsignificant, linkage regions for genes controling infidelity and sexual partner number on chromosomes 3, 7 and 20. However, none of these regions contain an obvious candidate gene for the behavioral traits in question. The authors therefore suggested further linkage and association studies to be carried out on hormone and hormone-receptor genes. Although the study of Cherkas et al. (2004) was the first to demonstrate a genetic basis for infidelity and sexual partner number in humans, substantial evidence for the heritability of these traits in animals, particularly birds and rodents, has already been reported (Blomqvist et al., 2002). Interestingly, no comparative data exist for nonhuman primates. Such studies would be of particular relevance in this context, given the evolutionary proximity of nonhuman primates to humans.