Data from: Rapid evolution of the inter-sexual genetic correlation for fitness in Drosophila melanogaster

Sexual antagonism (SA) arises when male and female phenotypes are under opposing selection, yet genetically correlated. Until resolved, antagonism limits evolution towards optimal sex-specific phenotypes. Despite its importance for sex-specific adaptation and existing theory, the dynamics of SA resolution are not well understood empirically. Here, we present data from Drosophila melanogaster, compatible with a resolution of SA. We compared two independent replicates of the 'LHM' population in which SA had previously been described. Both had been maintained under identical, controlled conditions, and separated for around 200 generations. Although heritabilities of male and female fitness were similar, the inter-sexual genetic correlation differed significantly, being negative in one replicate (indicating SA) but close to zero in the other. Using population sequencing, we show that phenotypic differences were associated with population divergence in allele frequencies at non-random loci across the genome. Large frequency changes were more prevalent in the population without SA and were enriched at loci mapping to genes previously shown to have sexually antagonistic relationships between expression and fitness. Our data suggest that rapid evolution towards SA resolution has occurred in one of the populations and open avenues towards studying the genetics of SA and its resolution.

性拮抗（Sexual antagonism, SA）指雄性与雌性表型承受对立选择压力，但二者存在遗传相关时产生的现象。在该拮抗效应得到解决之前，其会限制种群向最优性别特异性表型方向演化。尽管性拮抗对性别特异性适应及现有理论均具有重要意义，但目前学界对其解除的动态过程仍缺乏充分的实证认知。本文呈现了来自黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）、与性拮抗解除过程兼容的实验数据。我们对此前已被报道存在性拮抗现象的‘LHM’种群的两个独立重复种群进行了比较：两个种群均在相同的可控实验条件下维持培养，且已分离演化约200代。尽管雌雄个体的适合度遗传力水平相近，但其性间遗传相关度存在显著差异——一个重复种群的相关度为负值（表明存在性拮抗），而另一个则接近于零。借助群体测序（population sequencing）技术，我们发现表型差异与基因组内非随机位点的等位基因频率的种群分化存在关联。在不存在性拮抗的种群中，等位基因频率的大幅波动更为常见，且这些波动富集于此前已被证实存在表达与适合度间性拮抗关系的基因所对应的基因组位点。本研究数据表明，其中一个种群已发生了朝向性拮抗解除的快速演化，该成果也为探究性拮抗及其解除的遗传机制开辟了新的研究路径。