The effect of epistasis on sexually antagonistic genetic variation.

ABSTRACT: There is increasing evidence of segregating sexually antagonistic (SA) genetic variation for fitness in laboratory and wild populations, yet the conditions for the maintenance of such variation can be restrictive. Epistatic interactions between genes can contribute to the maintenance of genetic variance in fitness and we suggest that epistasis between SA genes should be pervasive. Here, we explore its effect on SA genetic variation in fitness using a two locus model with negative epistasis. Our results demonstrate that epistasis often increases the parameter space showing polymorphism for SA loci. This is because selection in one locus is affected by allele frequencies at the other, which can act to balance net selection in males and females. Increased linkage between SA loci had more marg

SUBMITTER: Arnqvist G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4071542 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature