Data from: Sisters’ curse: sexually antagonistic effects constrain the spread of a mitochondrial haplogroup superior in sperm competition

Maternal inheritance of mitochondria creates a sex-specific selective sieve with implications for male longevity, disease susceptibility and infertility. Because males are an evolutionary dead end for mitochondria, mitochondrial mutations that are harmful or beneficial to males but not females cannot respond directly to selection. Although the importance of this male/female asymmetry in evolutionary response depends on the extent to which mitochondrial mutations exert antagonistic effects on male and female fitness, few studies have documented sex-specific selection acting on mitochondria. Here, we exploited the discovery of two highly divergent mitochondrial haplogroups (A and B2) in central Panamanian populations of the pseudoscorpion Cordylochernes scorpioides. Next-generation sequencing and phylogenetic analyses suggest that selection on the ND4 and ND4L mitochondrial genes may partially explain sexually antagonistic mitochondrial effects on reproduction. Males carrying the rare B2 mitochondrial haplogroup enjoy a marked advantage in sperm competition, but B2 females are significantly less sexually receptive at second mating than A females. This reduced propensity for polyandry is likely to significantly reduce female lifetime reproductive success, thereby limiting the spread of the male beneficial B2 haplogroup. Our findings suggest that maternal inheritance of mitochondria and sexually antagonistic selection can constrain male adaptation and sexual selection in nature.

线粒体母系遗传会形成一类性别特异性选择筛网，其对雄性寿命、疾病易感性与不孕不育均存在潜在影响。由于雄性无法将自身线粒体传递给后代，因此仅对雄性产生有害或有益效应、却不对雌性产生对应影响的线粒体突变，无法直接接受自然选择的作用。尽管这种雌雄不对称性在演化响应中的重要性，取决于线粒体突变对雌雄适合度产生拮抗效应的程度，但目前鲜有研究证实线粒体上存在性别特异性选择。本研究利用在巴拿马中部伪蝎（*Cordylochernes scorpioides*）种群中发现的两类高度分化的线粒体单倍群（mitochondrial haplogroup）A与B2展开研究。通过下一代测序（next-generation sequencing）与系统发育分析（phylogenetic analyses），我们推测针对线粒体ND4与ND4L基因的选择，可部分解释线粒体对繁殖产生的性别拮抗效应。携带稀有B2线粒体单倍群的雄性，在精子竞争中具备显著优势；但相较于携带A单倍群的雌性，B2雌性在第二次交配时的性接受度显著更低。这种一妻多夫行为倾向的减弱，很可能会显著降低雌性的终生繁殖成功率，进而限制雄性有益的B2单倍群的传播。我们的研究结果表明，线粒体母系遗传与性别拮抗选择，可能会在自然环境中制约雄性适应与性选择进程。