Marshall Rupert C, Buchanan Katherine L, Catchpole Clive K
School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2003 Nov 7;270 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):S248-50. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0081.
Here, we report for the first time, to our knowledge, a strong correlation between a measure of individual genetic diversity and song complexity, a sexually selected male trait in sedge warblers, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus. We also find that females prefer to mate with males who will maximize this diversity in individual progeny. The genetic diversity of each offspring is further increased by means of nonrandom fertilization, as we also show that the fertilizing sperm contains a haplotype more genetically distant to that of the egg than expected by chance. These findings suggest that species' mating preferences may be subject to fine tuning aimed at increasing offspring viability through increased genetic diversity. This includes external and internal mechanisms of selection, even within the ejaculate of a single male.
据我们所知，在此我们首次报告了个体遗传多样性指标与鸣禽苇莺（Acrocephalus schoenobaenus）雄性性选择特征——歌声复杂性之间存在强烈关联。我们还发现，雌性更倾向于与能使个体后代的这种多样性最大化的雄性交配。正如我们所表明的，受精精子所含单倍型在遗传上比随机预期的与卵子的单倍型距离更远，通过非随机受精，每个后代的遗传多样性进一步增加。这些发现表明，物种的交配偏好可能会进行微调，旨在通过增加遗传多样性来提高后代的生存能力。这包括外部和内部选择机制，甚至在单个雄性的射精过程中也是如此。
