The impact of sex-role reversal on the diversity of the major histocompatibility complex: insights from the seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Both natural and sexual selection are thought to influence genetic diversity, but the study of the relative importance of these two factors on ecologically-relevant traits has traditionally focused on species with conventional sex-roles, with male-male competition and female-based mate choice. With its high variability and significance in both immune function and olfactory-mediated mate choice, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC/MH) is an ideal system in which to evaluate the relative contributions of these two selective forces to genetic diversity. Intrasexual competition and mate choice are both reversed in sex-role reversed species, and sex-related differences in the detection and use of MH-odor cues are expected to influence the intensity of sexual selection i

SUBMITTER: Bahr A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3117728 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature