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Sexual conflict in its ecological setting.

ABSTRACT: Sexual conflict can lead to rapid and continuous coevolution between females and males, without any inputs from varying ecology. Yet both the degree of conflict and selection on antagonistic traits are known to be sensitive to local ecological conditions. This leads to the longstanding question: to what extent does variation in ecological context drive sexually antagonistic coevolution? In water striders, there is much information about the impacts of ecological factors on conflict, and about patterns of antagonistic coevolution. However, the connection between the two is poorly understood. Here, we first review the multiple ways in which ecological context might affect the coevolutionary trajectory of the sexes. We then review ecological and coevolutionary patterns in water striders, and connections between them, in light of theory and new data. Our analysis suggests that ecological variation does impact observed patterns of antagonistic coevolution, but highlights significant uncertainty due to the multiple pathways by which ecological factors can influence conflict and its evolutionary outcome. To the extent that water striders are a reasonable reflection of other systems, this observation serves as both an opportunity and a warning: there is much to learn, but gaining insight may be a daunting process in many systems.This article is part of the theme issue 'Linking local adaptation with the evolution of sex differences'.

SUBMITTER: Perry JC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6125725 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Sexual conflict in its ecological setting.

Perry Jennifer C JC Rowe Locke L

Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences 20181001 1757

Sexual conflict can lead to rapid and continuous coevolution between females and males, without any inputs from varying ecology. Yet both the degree of conflict and selection on antagonistic traits are known to be sensitive to local ecological conditions. This leads to the longstanding question: to what extent does variation in ecological context drive sexually antagonistic coevolution? In water striders, there is much information about the impacts of ecological factors on conflict, and about pa ...[more]

PMID: 30150217

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Project description:BackgroundSexual dimorphism in immunity is believed to reflect sex differences in reproductive strategies and trade-offs between competing life history demands. Sexual selection can have major effects on mating rates and sex-specific costs of mating and may thereby influence sex differences in immunity as well as associated host-pathogen dynamics. Yet, experimental evidence linking the mating system to evolved sexual dimorphism in immunity are scarce and the direct effects of mating rate on immunity are not well established. Here, we use transcriptomic analyses, experimental evolution and phylogenetic comparative methods to study the association between the mating system and sexual dimorphism in immunity in seed beetles, where mating causes internal injuries in females.ResultsWe demonstrate that female phenoloxidase (PO) activity, involved in wound healing and defence against parasitic infections, is elevated relative to males. This difference is accompanied by concomitant sex differences in the expression of genes in the prophenoloxidase activating cascade. We document substantial phenotypic plasticity in female PO activity in response to mating and show that experimental evolution under enforced monogamy (resulting in low remating rates and reduced sexual conflict relative to natural polygamy) rapidly decreases female (but not male) PO activity. Moreover, monogamous females had evolved increased tolerance to bacterial infection unrelated to mating, implying that female responses to costly mating may trade off with other aspects of immune defence, an hypothesis which broadly accords with the documented sex differences in gene expression. Finally, female (but not male) PO activity shows correlated evolution with the perceived harmfulness of male genitalia across 12 species of seed beetles, suggesting that sexual conflict has a significant influence on sexual dimorphisms in immunity in this group of insects.ConclusionsOur study provides insights into the links between sexual conflict and sexual dimorphism in immunity and suggests that selection pressures moulded by mating interactions can lead to a sex-specific mosaic of immune responses with important implications for host-pathogen dynamics in sexually reproducing organisms.

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Sexual conflict in its ecological setting.

Publications

Sexual conflict in its ecological setting.

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