Data from: Heterozygosity and orange colouration are strongly associated in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

The good-genes-as-heterozygosity hypothesis predicts that more elaborate male sexual ornaments are associated with higher levels of heterozygosity. Recent theoretical work suggests that such associations are likely to arise in finite, structured populations. We investigated the correlation between multilocus heterozygosity (MLH), which was estimated using 13 microsatellite loci, and male coloration in a wild population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata), a model species in sexual selection research. We found that MLH was a significant predictor of the relative area of orange spots, a trait that is subject to strong female preference in this species. Neither the relative area of black spots nor the number of black or orange spots was significantly correlated with MLH. We found no statistical support for local effects (i.e. strong effects of heterozygosity at specific markers), which suggests that relative orange spots area reflects genome-wide heterozygosity.杂合性优势优良基因假说（good-genes-as-heterozygosity hypothesis）提出，雄性更为精致的性征装饰物与更高水平的个体杂合性存在正相关关联。近期的理论研究指出，这类关联极有可能在有限的结构化种群中产生。本研究以野生孔雀鱼（Poecilia reticulata）种群为对象——该物种是性选择研究中的经典模式生物——通过13个微卫星位点（microsatellite loci）估算得到多位点杂合性（multilocus heterozygosity, MLH），并探究了其与雄性体色表现之间的相关性。研究结果显示，MLH可显著预测橙色斑块的相对面积，这一性状在该物种中受到雌性的强烈偏好选择。而黑色斑块的相对面积、黑色斑点数量与橙色斑点数量，均与MLH无显著相关性。本研究未发现支持局部效应（即特定标记位点处杂合性的强效应）的统计学证据，这表明橙色斑块的相对面积所反映的是全基因组水平的个体杂合性。