Female-limited X-chromosome evolution effects on male pre- And post-copulatory success
Manat Y. Lund-Hansen K.K. Katsianis G. Abbott J.K.
3 March 2021Royal Society Publishing
Biology Letters
2021#17Issue 3
Intralocus sexual conflict arises when the expression of shared alleles at a single locus generates opposite fitness effects in each sex (i.e. sexually antagonistic alleles), preventing each sex from reaching its sex-specific optimum. Despite its importance to reproductive success, the relative contribution of intralocus sexual conflict to male pre- and post-copulatory success is not well-understood. Here, we used a female-limited X-chromosome (FLX) evolution experiment in Drosophila melanogaster to limit the inheritance of the X-chromosome to the matriline, eliminating possible counter-selection in males and allowing the X-chromosome to accumulate female-benefit alleles. After more than 100 generations of FLX evolution, we studied the effect of the evolved X-chromosome on male attractiveness and sperm competitiveness. We found a non-significant increase in attractiveness and decrease in sperm offence ability in males expressing the evolved X-chromosomes, but a significant increase in their ability to avoid displacement by other males sperm. This is consistent with a trade-off between these traits, perhaps mediated by differences in body size, causing a small net reduction in overall male fitness in the FLX lines. These results indicate that the X-chromosome in D. melanogaster is subject to selection via intralocus sexual conflict in males.
intralocus sexual conflict , male attractiveness , male fitness , sperm competition , X-chromosome
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Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund University, Lund, 223 62, Sweden
The Biomedical Research Center, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan
Department of Biology
The Biomedical Research Center
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