Female sticklebacks count alleles in a strategy of sexual selection explaining MHC polymorphism

Nature ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 414 (6861) ◽  
pp. 300-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thorsten B. H. Reusch ◽  
Michael A. Häberli ◽  
Peter B. Aeschlimann ◽  
Manfred Milinski
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mhc Polymorphism

scholarly journals Sexual selection explains more functional variation in the mammalian major histocompatibility complex than parasitism

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1769) ◽  
pp. 20131605 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Winternitz ◽  
S. G. Minchey ◽  
L. Z. Garamszegi ◽  
S. Huang ◽  
P. R. Stephens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Major Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Nucleotide Diversity ◽  
Major Histocompatibility ◽  
Parasite Richness ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Mhc Polymorphism ◽  
Testes Size ◽  
Mhc Diversity

Understanding drivers of genetic diversity at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is vitally important for predicting how vertebrate immune defence might respond to future selection pressures and for preserving immunogenetic diversity in declining populations. Parasite-mediated selection is believed to be the major selective force generating MHC polymorphism, and while MHC-based mating preferences also exist for multiple species including humans, the general importance of mate choice is debated. To investigate the contributions of parasitism and sexual selection in explaining among-species variation in MHC diversity, we applied comparative methods and meta-analysis across 112 mammal species, including carnivores, bats, primates, rodents and ungulates. We tested whether MHC diversity increased with parasite richness and relative testes size (as an indicator of the potential for mate choice), while controlling for phylogenetic autocorrelation, neutral mutation rate and confounding ecological variables. We found that MHC nucleotide diversity increased with parasite richness for bats and ungulates but decreased with parasite richness for carnivores. By contrast, nucleotide diversity increased with relative testes size for all taxa. This study provides support for both parasite-mediated and sexual selection in shaping functional MHC polymorphism across mammals, and importantly, suggests that sexual selection could have a more general role than previously thought.

The katydid that was: the tananá, stridulation, Henry Walter Bates and Charles Darwin

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudio J. Bidau
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Bush Cricket

The Amazonian bush-cricket or katydid, Thliboscelus hypericifolius (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae), called tananá by the natives was reported to have a song so beautiful that they were kept in cages for the pleasure of listening to the melodious sound. The interchange of letters between Henry Walter Bates and Charles Darwin regarding the tananá and the issue of stridulation in Orthoptera indicates how this mysterious insect, which seems to be very rare, contributed to the theory of sexual selection developed by Darwin.

Sexual selection, evolution of play and entertainment

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ohler ◽  
Gerhild Nieding
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection
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