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ASSORTATIVE MATING BY FITNESS AND SEXUALLY ANTAGONISTIC GENETIC VARIATION
Author(s) -
Arnqvist Göran
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01270.x
Subject(s) - assortative mating , biology , genetic variation , sexual selection , evolutionary biology , mating , natural selection , genetics , selection (genetic algorithm) , dominance (genetics) , zoology , gene , artificial intelligence , computer science
Recent documentations of sexually antagonistic genetic variation in fitness have spurred an interest in the mechanisms that may act to maintain such variation in natural populations. Using individual‐based simulations, I show that positive assortative mating by fitness increases the amount of sexually antagonistic genetic variance in fitness, primarily by elevating the equilibrium frequency of heterozygotes, over most of the range of sex‐specific selection and dominance. Further, although the effects of assortative mating by fitness on the protection conditions of polymorphism in sexually antagonistic loci were relatively minor, it widens the protection conditions under most reasonable scenarios (e.g., under heterozygote superiority when fitness is averaged across the sexes) but can also somewhat narrow the protection conditions under other circumstances. The near‐ubiquity of assortative mating in nature suggests that it may contribute to upholding standing sexually antagonistic genetic variation in fitness.