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Sex-biased gene expression and sexual conflict throughout development
Fiona C Ingleby1, Ilona Flis1, Edward H Morrow1
1Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, John Maynard Smith Building, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Sex-biased gene expression is likely to account for most sexually dimorphic traits because males and females share much of their genome. When fitness optima differ between sexes for a shared trait, sexual dimorphism can allow each sex to express their optimum trait phenotype, and in this way, the evolution of sex-biased gene expression is one mechanism that could help to resolve intralocus sexual conflict. Genome-wide patterns of sex-biased gene expression have been identified in a number of studies, which we review here. However, very little is known about how sex-biased gene expression relates to sex-specific fitness and about how sex-biased gene expression and conflict vary throughout development or across different genotypes, populations, and environments. We discuss the importance of these neglected areas of research and use data from a small-scale experiment on sex-specific expression of genes throughout development to highlight potentially interesting avenues for future research.
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