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）是一类重要的内分泌激素，现有研究证实其在众多物种中与个体适合度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，但学界对其可遗传的遗传基础，以及决定其演化潜力的性别间遗传相关仍所知有限。我们在野生马鹿幼崽（Cervus elaphus）中发现，循环系统中的新生期睾酮水平既具有可遗传性（0.160 ± 0.064 标准误（s.e.）），且在雌雄个体间存在显著遗传相关（0.942 ± 0.648 标准误（s.e.））。若雌雄个体对循环睾酮水平的演化最适值存在分化（一如成年个体的情况），则该发现可能具备重要的演化研究意义。