Assersohn, K. orcid.org/0000-0002-1085-0266, Morton, O. orcid.org/0000-0001-5483-4498, Slate, J. orcid.org/0000-0003-3356-5123 et al. (1 more author) (2024) A sex-linked supergene with large effects on sperm traits has little impact on reproductive traits in female zebra finches. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 291 (2019). 20232796. ISSN 0962-8452
Abstract
Despite constituting an essential component of fitness, reproductive success can vary remarkably between individuals and the causes of such variation are not well understood across taxa. In the zebra finch—a model songbird, almost all the variation in sperm morphology and swimming speed is maintained by a large polymorphic inversion (commonly known as a supergene) on the Z chromosome. The relationship between this polymorphism and reproductive success is not fully understood, particularly for females. Here, we explore the effects of female haplotype, and the combination of male and female genotype, on several primary reproductive traits in a captive population of zebra finches. Despite the inversion polymorphism's known effects on sperm traits, we find no evidence that inversion haplotype influences egg production by females or survival of embryos through to hatching. However, our findings do reinforce existing evidence that the inversion polymorphism is maintained by a heterozygote advantage for male fitness. This work provides an important step in understanding the causes of variation in reproductive success in this model species.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Keywords: | Taeniopygia guttata; heterozygote advantage; inversion polymorphism; reproduction; sex chromosomes; Animals; Male; Female; Finches; Semen; Spermatozoa; Reproduction; Phenotype; Chromosome Inversion |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Apr 2024 12:21 |
Last Modified: | 03 Apr 2024 12:21 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | The Royal Society |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1098/rspb.2023.2796 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:211104 |