Runge Jan-Niklas, Lindholm Anna K
Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
R Soc Open Sci. 2021 May 12;8(5):202050. doi: 10.1098/rsos.202050.
Meiotic drivers are genetic entities that increase their own probability of being transmitted to offspring, usually to the detriment of the rest of the organism, thus 'selfishly' increasing their fitness. In many meiotic drive systems, driver-carrying males are less successful in sperm competition, which occurs when females mate with multiple males in one oestrus cycle (polyandry). How do drivers respond to this selection? An observational study found that house mice carrying the haplotype, a meiotic driver, are more likely to disperse from dense populations. This could help the avoid detrimental sperm competition, because density is associated with the frequency of polyandry. However, no controlled experiments have been conducted to test these findings. Here, we confirm that carriers of the haplotype are more dispersive, but we do not find this to depend on the local density. -carriers with above-average body weight were particularly more likely to disperse than wild-type mice. -carrying mice were also more explorative but not more active than wild-type mice. These results add experimental support to the previous observational finding that the haplotype affects the dispersal phenotype in house mice, which supports the hypothesis that dispersal reduces the fitness costs of the .
减数分裂驱动因子是一些遗传实体，它们会增加自身被传递给后代的概率，通常是以损害生物体的其他部分为代价，从而“自私地”提高自身的适应性。在许多减数分裂驱动系统中，携带驱动因子的雄性在精子竞争中不太成功，精子竞争发生在雌性在一个发情周期内与多个雄性交配（一妻多夫制）时。驱动因子如何应对这种选择呢？一项观察性研究发现，携带单倍型（一种减数分裂驱动因子）的家鼠更有可能从密集种群中扩散出去。这有助于其避免有害的精子竞争，因为种群密度与一妻多夫制的频率相关。然而，尚未进行对照实验来验证这些发现。在这里，我们证实了携带该单倍型的个体更具扩散性，但我们发现这并不取决于当地的种群密度。体重高于平均水平的携带该单倍型的个体比野生型小鼠尤其更有可能扩散。携带该单倍型的小鼠也更具探索性，但并不比野生型小鼠更活跃。这些结果为之前的观察性发现提供了实验支持，即该单倍型会影响家鼠的扩散表型，这支持了扩散会降低该单倍型适应性成本的假说。
