Promiscuity punishes sexual deviants

Molecular Ecology
Leif Engqvist, Steven A Ramm

Abstract

Sex is good for us, but it is a compromise. For the benefit of being able to produce genetically variable offspring, we must pay the cost of passing on only half our genes to each of them. Whilst evolutionary biologists still puzzle over the precise details of why the benefits of sex so frequently seem to outweigh the costs (Neiman, Lively, & Meirmans, ), one major challenge to sexual reproduction is the fact that if we pass on only half our genetic material to each gamete, there is a strong incentive for each individual allele to try to gain an unfair representation during gamete production. Fundamental to stabilizing sex once it evolves is therefore the ability to ensure a fair meiosis. Nevertheless, this system is not perfect, and some selfish genetic elements - so-called meiotic drivers - manage to tip the meiotic scales in their favour and gain a transmission advantage (review in Burt and Trivers, ). In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Manser, Lindholm, Simmons, and Firman () demonstrate that in house mice, the effectiveness of one such harmful transmission distorter is reduced by polyandry and hence that population viability can be somewhat restored by female promiscuity.

References

Aug 13, 1999·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·K ReinholdJ Kurtz
Sep 3, 2011·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Andri ManserHomayoun C Bagheri
Sep 6, 2012·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Leif Engqvist
Jan 23, 2013·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Nina Wedell
Jan 21, 2015·Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution·Renée C FirmanLeigh W Simmons
Jul 3, 2015·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Andreas Sutter, Anna K Lindholm
Jun 14, 2017·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Maurine NeimanStephanie Meirmans

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