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Simpler mode of inheritance of transcriptional variation in male Drosophila melanogaster

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journal contribution
posted on 2007-11-20, 00:00 authored by M L Wayne, Marina Telonis-ScottMarina Telonis-Scott, L M Bono, L Harshman, A Kopp, S V Nuzhdin, L M McIntyre
Sexual selection drives faster evolution in males. The X chromosome is potentially an important target for sexual selection, because hemizygosity in males permits accumulation of alleles, causing tradeoffs in fitness between sexes. Hemizygosity of the X could cause fundamentally different modes of inheritance between the sexes, with more additive variation in males and more nonadditive variation in females. Indeed, we find that genetic variation for the transcriptome is primarily additive in males but nonadditive in females. As expected, these differences are more pronounced on the X chromosome than the autosomes, but autosomal loci are also affected, possibly because of X-linked transcription factors. These differences may be of evolutionary significance because additive variation responds quickly to selection, whereas nonadditive genetic variation does not. Thus, hemizygosity of the X may underlie much of the faster male evolution of the transcriptome and potentially other phenotypes. Consistent with this prediction, genes that are additive in males and nonadditive in females are overrepresented among genes responding to selection for increased mating speed.

History

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Volume

104

Issue

47

Pagination

18577 - 18582

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Location

Washington, D.C.

eISSN

1091-6490

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2007, The National Academy of Sciences of the USA