Sexually antagonistic selection maintains genetic variance when sexual dimorphism evolves.

ABSTRACT: Genetic variance (V_G) in fitness related traits is often unexpectedly high, evoking the question how V_G can be maintained in the face of selection. Sexually antagonistic (SA) selection favouring alternative alleles in the sexes is common and predicted to maintain V_G, while directional selection should erode it. Both SA and sex-limited directional selection can lead to sex-specific adaptations but how each affect V_G when sexual dimorphism evolves remain experimentally untested. Using replicated artificial selection on the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus body size we recently demonstrated an increase in size dimorphism under SA and male-limited (ML) selection by 50% and 32%, respectively. Here we test their c

SUBMITTER: Kaufmann P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10031426 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature