Winning the genetic lottery: biasing birth sex ratio results in more grandchildren.

ABSTRACT: Population dynamics predicts that on average parents should invest equally in male and female offspring; similarly, the physiology of mammalian sex determination is supposedly stochastic, producing equal numbers of sons and daughters. However, a high quality parent can maximize fitness by biasing their birth sex ratio (SR) to the sex with the greatest potential to disproportionately outperform peers. All SR manipulation theories share a fundamental prediction: grandparents who bias birth SR should produce more grandoffspring via the favored sex. The celebrated examples of biased birth SRs in nature consistent with SR manipulation theories provide compelling circumstantial evidence. However, this prediction has never been directly tested in mammals, primarily because the complete three-gene

SUBMITTER: Thogerson CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3707872 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature