Data from: Heritability and cross-sex genetic correlations of early life circulating testosterone levels in a wild mammal

Testosterone is an important hormone that has been shown to have sex-specific links to fitness in numerous species. Although testosterone concentrations vary substantially between individuals in a population, little is known about its heritable genetic basis or between-sex genetic correlations that determine its evolutionary potential. We found circulating neonatal testosterone levels to be both heritable (0.160 ± 0.064 s.e.) and correlated between the sexes (0.942 ± 0.648 s.e.) in wild red deer calves (Cervus elaphus). This may have important evolutionary implications if, as in adults, the sexes have divergent optima for circulating testosterone levels.

睾酮（Testosterone）是一种关键激素，已在众多物种中被证实与适应性存在性别特异性关联。尽管种群内个体间的睾酮浓度存在显著差异，但目前学界对其可遗传的遗传基础，以及决定其进化潜力的性别间遗传相关度仍知之甚少。我们在野生马鹿幼崽（Cervus elaphus）中发现，循环中的新生期睾酮水平既具有可遗传性（0.160 ± 0.064 s.e.），也存在性别间相关性（0.942 ± 0.648 s.e.）。倘若与成年个体一样，两性在循环睾酮水平上存在差异化的最优值，那么这一发现可能具有重要的进化意义。