Am Nat. 2020 Jun;195(6):997-1008. doi: 10.1086/708497. Epub 2020 Apr 14.
Although mating represents a mutual interaction, the study of mate preferences has long focused on choice in one sex and preferred traits in the other. This has certainly been the case in the study of the costs and condition-dependent expression of mating preferences, with the majority of studies concerning female preference. The condition dependence and genetic architecture of mutual mate preferences remain largely unstudied, despite their likely relevance for the evolution of preferences and of mating behavior more generally. Here we measured () male and female mate preferences and () intersexual genetic correlations for the mating activity in pedigreed populations of southern field crickets () raised on a favorable (free-choice) or a stressful (protein-deprived) diet. In the favorable dietary environment, mutual mate preferences were strong, and the intersexual genetic covariance for mating activity was not different from one. However, in the stressful dietary environment, mutual mate preferences were weak, and the intersexual genetic covariance for mating activity was significantly smaller than one. Altogether, our results show that diet environments affect the expression of genetic variation in mating behaviors: when the environment is stressful, both () the strength of mutual mate preference and () intersexual genetic covariance for mating activity tend to be weaker. This implies that mating dynamics strongly vary across environments.
尽管交配代表了一种相互作用，但对配偶偏好的研究长期以来一直集中在一种性别的选择和另一种性别的偏好特征上。在研究交配偏好的成本和条件依赖性表达时，情况肯定是这样的，大多数研究都涉及雌性偏好。尽管相互配偶偏好的条件依赖性和遗传结构可能与偏好和更普遍的交配行为的进化有关，但它们在很大程度上仍未得到研究。在这里，我们在饲养于有利（自由选择）或应激（蛋白质剥夺）饮食的 pedigreed 南方蟋蟀种群中测量了交配活动的（）雄性和雌性配偶偏好和（）两性间遗传相关性。在有利的饮食环境中，相互配偶偏好很强，交配活动的两性间遗传协方差与一相同。然而，在应激的饮食环境中，相互配偶偏好很弱，交配活动的两性间遗传协方差明显小于一。总之，我们的结果表明，饮食环境会影响交配行为中遗传变异的表达：当环境具有压力时，（）相互配偶偏好的强度和（）交配活动的两性间遗传协方差都趋于减弱。这意味着交配动态在不同环境中会发生很大变化。
