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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 9, 2026

Assessment of Sexual Behavior of Male Mice
04:38

Assessment of Sexual Behavior of Male Mice

Published on: March 5, 2020

Polyandry facilitates postcopulatory inbreeding avoidance in house mice.

Renée C Firman1, Leigh W Simmons

  • 1Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology (M092), The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6009, Australia. rcfirman@cyllene.uwa.edu.au

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|December 18, 2007
PubMed
Summary

Female house mice avoid inbreeding through polyandry, favoring unrelated males post-copulation. This study demonstrates how polyandry drives sexual selection in vertebrates, influencing paternity bias.

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Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Behavioral Ecology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Polyandry, mating with multiple males, may evolve to avoid genetic incompatibilities.
  • Females might use polyandry to prevent inbreeding costs via postcopulatory mate choice.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the inbreeding avoidance hypothesis in house mice (Mus musculus).
  • To investigate if polyandry facilitates paternity bias toward unrelated males.

Main Methods:

  • Experimental manipulation of mating compatibility (siblings vs. nonsiblings).
  • Assessment of reproductive success and paternity using microsatellite data.

Main Results:

  • Little difference in reproductive success between females mated to siblings or nonsiblings.
  • Paternity bias favored unrelated males when females mated with both sibling and nonsibling.
  • Litter survival was reduced when mating order involved a sibling first.

Conclusions:

  • Polyandry facilitates postcopulatory sexual selection in house mice.
  • Paternity bias is independent of mating sequence in this vertebrate model.
  • Results suggest potential selective fertilization linked to sperm's major histocompatibility complex (MHC) expression.