Sex-Specific Selection and Sex-Biased Gene Expression in Humans and Flies.

ABSTRACT: Sexual dimorphism results from sex-biased gene expression, which evolves when selection acts differently on males and females. While there is an intimate connection between sex-biased gene expression and sex-specific selection, few empirical studies have studied this relationship directly. Here we compare the two on a genome-wide scale in humans and flies. We find a distinctive "Twin Peaks" pattern in humans that relates the strength of sex-specific selection, quantified by genetic divergence between male and female adults at autosomal loci, to the degree of sex-biased expression. Genes with intermediate degrees of sex-biased expression show evidence of ongoing sex-specific selection, while genes with either little or completely sex-biased expression do not. This pattern apparently results

SUBMITTER: Cheng C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5033347 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature