The evolution of paternal care: a role for microbes?

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Microbiome research
• Animal behavior

Background:

• Paternal care is costly, especially with uncertain paternity.
• Existing theories focus on paternity assessment and care adjustment.
• The role of host-associated microbes in paternal care is unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and model a novel hypothesis for the evolution of paternal care.
• To investigate the potential role of microbes in promoting paternal care behaviors.
• To determine the conditions under which microbe-induced paternal care can evolve.

Main Methods:

• Development and analysis of computational models.
• Simulation of natural selection acting on microbe-host interactions.
• Exploration of varying levels of paternity uncertainty and microbial transmission.

Main Results:

• Microbes associated with increased paternal care can be favored by natural selection.
• Microbe-induced paternal care evolves under wider conditions than genetic models suggest.
• Paternal care interactions that enhance microbial transmission (e.g., grooming, feeding) increase the likelihood of microbe-induced care.

Conclusions:

• Microbial symbionts can be a significant factor in the evolution of animal paternal care.
• Host microbiome composition may directly influence the expression of paternal behaviors.
• This provides a new framework for understanding the evolution of complex social behaviors in animals.