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Sex‐linked altruism: A stepping‐stone in the evolution of social behavior?
Author(s) -
Kawecki Tadeusz J.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.1991.4030487.x
Subject(s) - altruism (biology) , biology , heterogametic sex , kin selection , genetics , inclusive fitness , selection (genetic algorithm) , mechanism (biology) , chromosome , evolutionary biology , gene , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy , epistemology
A verbal model is presented for a mechanism that enhances the probability of the evolution of altruism in diploids if the gene for altruism arises on the X chromosome. If the altruism takes place between sibs of the homogametic sex, the condition for spread of a sex‐linked gene for altruism is less stringent than for an autosomal gene. Then, with altruistic behavior present, selection for increased efficiency (benefit/cost ratio) may raise the efficiency above the autosomal threshold before autosomal modifiers are widespread enough to eliminate the behavior. The results of computer simulations confirms that, if the initial benefit/cost ratio is lower than 2, sex‐linkage can make the evolution of altruism more likely.