Cryptic haplotype-specific gamete selection yields offspring with optimal MHC immune genes.

ABSTRACT: Females choose specific mates in order to produce fitter offspring. However, several factors interfere with females' control over fertilization of their eggs, including sneaker males and phenotypically unpredictable allele segregation during meiosis. Mate choice at the individual level thus provides only a poor approximation for obtaining the best genetic match. Consequently, postcopulatory sperm selection by female oocytes has been proposed as a mechanism to achieve complementary combinations of parental haplotypes. Here, using controlled in vitro fertilization of three-spined stickleback eggs, we find haplotype-specific fertilization bias toward gametes with complementary major histocompatibility complex (MHC) immunogenes. The resulting zygote (and thus offspring) genotypes exhibit an in

SUBMITTER: Lenz TL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6282957 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature