Genetics and Genomics of an Unusual Selfish Sex Ratio Distortion in an Insect

Hamilton, Phineas T.; Hodson, Christina N.; Curtis, Caitlin I.; Perlman, Steve J.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.10.035

Cited by 14 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 51 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Distorter females did not live as long as nondistorter females and had a shorter egg-laying period. (Hamilton et al, 2018). Distorters produce similar population effects to those in which feminizers have invaded (specifically that distorter females have a reproductive advantage over other females due to their exclusive production of female offspring).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we use fitness and population cage experiments, and field collections, to examine the population biology of an unusual selfish sex ratio distorter in a booklouse, Liposcelis sp., that produces an effect similar to a feminizing agent. Although they are obligately sexual, distorter females produce exclusively daughters and only pass on the maternally inherited half of their genome (Hamilton et al., ). Distorters produce similar population effects to those in which feminizers have invaded (specifically that distorter females have a reproductive advantage over other females due to their exclusive production of female offspring).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Distorter and nondistorter female types were initially identified by their reproductive biology (i.e. distorter females only produce female offspring), and later via molecular means (Hamilton et al., ; Perlman et al., ). Since distorter females need to mate with males in order to reproduce, we added males from the nondistorter female colonies into the distorter female colonies weekly.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Liposcelis sp. (Psocodea: Liposcelididae) is a recently discovered booklouse species that harbours an intriguing selfish genetic element (Hamilton, Hodson, Curtis, & Perlman, 2018;Perlman, Hodson, Hamilton, Opit, & Gowen, 2015). This species was recently discovered in the Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, on Yucca plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along with the fitness costs to carrying the distorting element identified in this study, it is probable that the genetic system in this species and male mating dynamics may also have an effect on the persistence of the distorting element in these populations. (Hamilton et al, 2018;Perlman et al, 2015). Since distorter females need to mate with males in order to reproduce, we added males from the nondistorter female colonies into the distorter female colonies weekly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Population biology of a selfish sex ratio distorting element in a booklouse (Psocodea: Liposcelis)

Hodson

Perlman

2019

J of Evolutionary Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Arthropods harbour a variety of selfish genetic elements that manipulate reproduction to be preferentially transmitted to future generations. A major ongoing question is to understand how these elements persist in nature. In this study, we examine the population dynamics of an unusual selfish sex ratio distorter in a recently discovered species of booklouse, Liposcelis sp. (Psocodea: Liposcelididae) to gain a better understanding of some of the factors that may affect the persistence of this element. Females that carry the selfish genetic element only ever produce daughters, although they are obligately sexual. These females also only transmit the maternal half of their genome. We performed a replicated population cage experiment, varying the initial frequency of females that harbour the selfish element, and following female frequencies for 20 months. The selfish genetic element persisted in all cages, often reaching very high (and thus severely female‐biased) frequencies. Surprisingly, we also found that females that carry the selfish genetic element had much lower fitness than their nondistorter counterparts, with lower lifetime fecundity, slower development and a shorter egg‐laying period. We suggest that differential fitness plays a role in the maintenance of the selfish genetic element in this species. We believe that the genetic system in this species, paternal genome elimination, which allows maternal control of offspring sex ratio, may also be important in the persistence of the selfish genetic element, highlighting the need to consider species with diverse ecologies and genetic systems when investigating the effects of sex ratio manipulators on host populations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Population biology of a selfish sex ratio distorting element in a booklouse (Psocodea: Liposcelis)

Hodson

Perlman

2019

J of Evolutionary Biology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

When does the female bias arise? Insights from the sex determination cascade of a flea beetle with a strongly skewed sex ratio

Rohlfing

Yue

Franke

et al. 2023

Funct Integr Genomics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reproduction-manipulating bacteria like Wolbachia can shift sex ratios in insects towards females, but skewed sex ratios may also arise from genetic conflicts. The flea beetle Altica lythri harbors three main mtDNA strains that are coupled to three different Wolbachia infections. Depending on the mtDNA types, the females produce either offspring with a balanced sex ratio or exclusively daughters. To obtain markers that can monitor when sex bias arises in the beetle’s ontogeny, we elucidated the sex determination cascade of A. lythri. We established a RT-PCR method based on length variants of dsx (doublesex) transcripts to determine the sex of morphologically indistinguishable eggs and larvae. In females of one mtDNA type (HT1/HT1*) known to produce only daughters, male offspring were already missing at the egg stage while for females of another type (HT2), the dsx splice variants revealed a balanced sex ratio among eggs and larvae. Our data suggest that the sex determination cascade in A. lythri is initiated by maternally transmitted female-specific tra (transformer) mRNA as primary signal. This tra mRNA seems to be involved in a positive feedback loop that maintains the production of the female splice variant, as known for female offspring in Tribolium castaneum. The translation of the maternally transmitted female tra mRNA must be inhibited in male offspring, but the underlying primary genetic signal remains to be identified. We discuss which differences between the mtDNA types can influence sex determination and lead to the skewed sex ratio of HT1.

show abstract

Extreme mitochondrial DNA divergence underlies genetic conflict over sex determination

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Genetics and Genomics of an Unusual Selfish Sex Ratio Distortion in an Insect

Cited by 14 publications

References 51 publications

Population biology of a selfish sex ratio distorting element in a booklouse (Psocodea: Liposcelis)

Population biology of a selfish sex ratio distorting element in a booklouse (Psocodea: Liposcelis)

When does the female bias arise? Insights from the sex determination cascade of a flea beetle with a strongly skewed sex ratio

Extreme mitochondrial DNA divergence underlies genetic conflict over sex determination

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About