Mate competition and evolutionary outcomes in genetically modified zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Demonstrating relationships between sexual selection mechanisms and trait evolution is central to testing evolutionary theory. Using zebrafish, we found that wild-type males possessed a significant advantage in mate competition over transgenic RFP Glofish® males. In mating trials, wild-type males were aggressively superior to transgenic males in male-male chases and male-female chases; as a result, wild-type males sired 2.5× as many young as did transgenic males. In contrast, an earlier study demonstrated that female zebrafish preferred transgenic males as mates when mate competition was excluded experimentally. We tested the evolutionary consequence of this conflict between sexual selection mechanisms in a long-term study. The predicted loss of the transgenic phenotype was confirmed. More than 18,500 adults collected from 18 populations across 15 generations revealed that the frequency of the transgenic phenotype declined rapidly and was eliminated entirely in all but one population. Fitness component data for both sexes indicated that only male mating success differed between wild-type and transgenic individuals. Our predictive demographic model based on fitness components closely matched the rate of transgenic phenotype loss observed in the long-term study, thereby supporting its utility for studies assessing evolutionary outcomes of escaped or released genetically modified animals.