Abstract
BackgroundThe maintenance of genetic variation through sexually antagonistic selection is controversial, partly because specific sexually-antagonistic alleles have not been identified. The Drosophila DDT resistance allele (DDT-R) is an exception. This allele increases female fitness, but simultaneously decreases male fitness, and it has been suggested that this sexual antagonism could explain why polymorphism was maintained at the locus prior to DDT use. We tested this possibility using a genetic model and then used evolving fly populations to test model predictions.ResultsTheory predicted that sexual antagonism is able to maintain genetic variation at this locus, hence explaining why DDT-R did not fix prior to DDT use despite increasing female fitness, and experimentally evolving fly populations verified theoretical predictions.ConclusionsThis demonstrates that sexually antagonistic selection can maintain genetic variation and explains the DDT-R frequencies observed in nature.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-015-0143-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The maintenance of genetic variation through sexually antagonistic selection is controversial, partly because specific sexually-antagonistic alleles have not been identified
By using empirically derived estimates of male and female fitness to quantify the magnitude of intralocus sexual conflict at this locus [23, 24], we find that polymorphism in resistance is maintained over a wide range of values, which contrasts with previous models [15,16,17,18] where genetic variation was maintained only in limited parameter range
We found that DDT resistance allele (DDT-R) frequency increased in seven of eight low frequency (LF) populations, and decreased in MF and high frequency (HF) populations as predicted (Fig. 2a)
Summary
The maintenance of genetic variation through sexually antagonistic selection is controversial, partly because specific sexually-antagonistic alleles have not been identified. The Drosophila DDT resistance allele (DDT-R) is an exception This allele increases female fitness, but simultaneously decreases male fitness, and it has been suggested that this sexual antagonism could explain why polymorphism was maintained at the locus prior to DDT use. We tested this possibility using a genetic model and used evolving fly populations to test model predictions. The sexes are frequently subjected to sex-specific selection for shared traits [2,3,4] and this can generate intralocus sexual conflict [5,6,7,8]. It has been argued that it will be very difficult to map sexually antagonistic traits to single genes [18, 20, 21]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
