Epigenetics and sex-specific fitness: an experimental test using male-limited evolution in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: When males and females have different fitness optima for the same trait but share loci, intralocus sexual conflict is likely to occur. Epigenetic mechanisms such as genomic imprinting (in which expression is altered according to parent-of-origin) and sex-specific maternal effects have been suggested as ways by which this conflict can be resolved. However these ideas have not yet been empirically tested. We designed an experimental evolution protocol in Drosophila melanogaster that enabled us to look for epigenetic effects on the X-chromosome-a hotspot for sexually antagonistic loci. We used special compound-X females to enforce father-to-son transmission of the X-chromosome for many generations, and compared fitness and gene expression levels between Control males, males with a Control X-c

SUBMITTER: Abbott JK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3726629 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature