Release from intralocus sexual conflict? Evolved loss of a male sexual trait demasculinizes female gene expression.

ABSTRACT: The loss of sexual ornaments is observed across taxa, and pleiotropic effects of such losses provide an opportunity to gain insight into underlying dynamics of sex-biased gene expression and intralocus sexual conflict (IASC). We investigated this in a Hawaiian field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus, in which an X-linked genotype ( flatwing) feminizes males' wings and eliminates their ability to produce sexually selected songs. We profiled adult gene expression across somatic and reproductive tissues of both sexes. Despite the feminizing effect of flatwing on male wings, we found no evidence of feminized gene expression in males. Instead, female transcriptomes were more strongly affected by flatwing than males', and exhibited demasculinized gene expression. These findings are consistent with

SUBMITTER: Rayner JG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6501929 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature