Maternal gestational cortisol and testosterone are associated with trade-offs in offspring sex and number in a free-living rodent (Urocitellus richardsonii).

ABSTRACT: The adaptive manipulation of offspring sex and number has been of considerable interest to ecologists and evolutionary biologists. The physiological mechanisms that translate maternal condition and environmental cues into adaptive responses in offspring sex and number, however, remain obscure. In mammals, research into the mechanisms responsible for adaptive sex allocation has focused on two major endocrine axes: the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis and glucocorticoids, and the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axis and sex steroids, particularly testosterone. While stress-induced activation of the HPA axis provides an intuitive model for sex ratio and litter size adjustment, plasma glucocorticoids exist in both bound and free fractions, and may be acting indirectly, for exampl

SUBMITTER: Ryan CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4213000 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature