Sibling rivalry versus mother's curse: can kin competition facilitate a response to selection on male mitochondria?

ABSTRACT: Assuming that fathers never transmit mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to their offspring, mitochondrial mutations that affect male fitness are invisible to direct selection on males, leading to an accumulation of male-harming alleles in the mitochondrial genome (mother's curse). However, male phenotypes encoded by mtDNA can still undergo adaptation via kin selection provided that males interact with females carrying related mtDNA, such as their sisters. Here, using experiments with Drosophila melanogaster carrying standardized nuclear DNA but distinct mitochondrial DNA, we test whether the mitochondrial haplotype carried by interacting pairs of larvae affects survival to adulthood, as well as the fitness of the adults. Although mtDNA had no detectable direct or indirect genetic effect on l

SUBMITTER: Keaney TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7423468 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature