Sexual and ecological selection on a sexual conflict gene

Sexual selection and conflict can act on genes with important metabolic functions, potentially shaping standing genetic variance in such genes, and thus evolutionary potential of populations. Here, using experimental evolution, we show how reproductive competition intensity and thermal environment affect selection on phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6Pgdh) – a metabolic gene involved in sexual selection and conflict in the bulb mite. The S allele of 6Pgdh increases male success in reproductive competition, but is detrimental to S-bearing males’ partners. We found that the rate of the S allele spread increased with the proportion of males in the experimental populations, illustrating that harm to females is more easily compensated for males under more intense sexual competition. Furthermore, we found that under equal sex ratio, the S allele spreads faster at higher temperature. While the direction of selection on 6Pgdh was not reversed in any of the conditions we tested, which would be re...性选择与性冲突可作用于具有重要代谢功能的基因，潜在地塑造此类基因的现存遗传变异，进而影响种群的进化潜能。本研究借助实验进化手段，揭示了生殖竞争强度与热环境如何作用于磷酸葡萄糖酸脱氢酶（phosphogluconate dehydrogenase，简称6Pgdh）——一种参与球根螨性选择与性冲突的代谢基因。6Pgdh的S等位基因能够提高雄性在生殖竞争中的获胜概率，却会对携带该等位基因的雄性的配偶产生不利影响。研究发现，S等位基因的扩散速率随实验种群中雄性比例的升高而加快，这表明在性竞争更为激烈的环境下，雄性对雌性造成的伤害更易得到补偿。此外，在性别比例均等的条件下，S等位基因在较高温度环境中的扩散速度更快。尽管在我们测试的所有实验条件下，6Pgdh所受的选择方向均未发生逆转，而这一情况本将