Sexual selection can partly explain low frequencies of Segregation Distorter alleles.

ABSTRACT: The Segregation Distorter (SD) allele found in Drosophila melanogaster distorts Mendelian inheritance in heterozygous males by causing developmental failure of non-SD spermatids, such that greater than 90% of the surviving sperm carry SD. This within-individual advantage should cause SD to fix, and yet SD is typically rare in wild populations. Here, we explore whether this paradox can be resolved by sexual selection, by testing if males carrying three different variants of SD suffer reduced pre- or post-copulatory reproductive success. We find that males carrying the SD allele are just as successful at securing matings as control males, but that one SD variant (SD-5) reduces sperm competitive ability and increases

SUBMITTER: Keaney TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8479333 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature