Sex-specific plasticity and genotype × sex interactions for age and size of maturity in the sheepshead swordtail, Xiphophorus birchmanni.

ABSTRACT: Responses to sexually antagonistic selection are thought to be constrained by the shared genetic architecture of homologous male and female traits. Accordingly, adaptive sexual dimorphism depends on mechanisms such as genotype-by-sex interaction (G×S) and sex-specific plasticity to alleviate this constraint. We tested these mechanisms in a population of Xiphophorus birchmanni (sheepshead swordtail), where the intensity of male competition is expected to mediate intersexual conflict over age and size at maturity. Combining quantitative genetics with density manipulations and analysis of sex ratio variation, we confirm that maturation traits are dimorphic and heritable, but also subject to large G×S. Although cross-sex genetic correlations are close to zero, suggesting sex-linked genes with

SUBMITTER: Boulton K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5102681 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature