Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
2007-1-5
pubmed:abstractText
Postcopulatory sexual selection affects the evolution of numerous features ranging from mating behavior to seminal fluid toxicity to the size of gametes. In an earlier study of the effect of sperm competition risk on sperm size evolution, experimental populations of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans were maintained either by outcrossing (sperm competition present) or by selfing (no sperm competition), and after 60 generations, significantly larger sperm had evolved in the outcrossing populations. To determine the effects of this selection on population genetic variation, we assessed genetic diversity in a large number of loci using random amplification of polymorphic DNA-PCR. Nearly 80% of the alleles present in parental strain populations persisted in the 6 experimental populations after the 60 generations and, despite a 2.2-fold difference in expected heterozygosity, the resulting levels of genetic variation were equivalent between the outcrossing and selfing experimental populations. By inference, we conclude that genetic hitchhiking due to sexual selection in the experimental populations dramatically reduced genetic diversity. We use the levels of variation in the selfing populations as a control for the effects of drift, and estimate the strength of sexual selection to be strong in obligatorily outcrossing populations. Although sequential hermaphrodites like C. elegans probably experience little sexual selection in nature, these data suggest that sexual selection can profoundly affect diversity in outcrossing taxa.
pubmed:grant
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:issn
0022-1503
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
98
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
67-72
pubmed:dateRevised
2011-4-14
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:articleTitle
Postcopulatory sexual selection reduces genetic diversity in experimental populations of Caenorhabditis elegans.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Biological Sciences, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA 91768, USA. cwlamunyon@csupomona.edu
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S., Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural