Neuronal nitric oxide synthase as a substrate for the evolution of pseudosexual behaviour in a parthenogenetic whiptail lizard.

ABSTRACT: The evolution of neuroendocrine mechanisms governing sex-typical behaviour is poorly understood. An outstanding animal model is the whiptail lizard (Cnemidophorus) because both the ancestral and descendent species still exist. The ancestral little striped whiptail, Cnemidophorus inornatus, consists of males and females, which exhibit sex-specific mating behaviours. The descendent desert grassland whiptail, Cnemidophorus uniparens, consists only of females that alternately exhibit both female-like and male-like pseudosexual behaviour. Castrated male C. inornatus will mount a conspecific in response to exogenous androgen, although some are also sensitive to progesterone. This polymorphism in progesterone sensitivity in the ancestral species may have been involved in evolution of progesterone

SUBMITTER: O'Connell LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4509676 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature