Projects per year
Abstract
The role of epigenetics in the control and evolution of behavior is being increasingly recognized. Here we test whether DNA methylation influences patterns of adaptive sex allocation in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Female N. vitripennis allocate offspring sex broadly in line with local mate competition (LMC) theory. However, recent theory has highlighted how genomic conflict may influence sex allocation under LMC, conflict that requires parent-of-origin information to be retained by alleles through some form of epigenetic signal. We manipulated whole-genome DNA methylation in N. vitripennis females using the hypomethylating agent 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine. Across two replicated experiments, we show that disruption of DNA methylation does not ablate the facultative sex allocation response of females, as sex ratios still vary with cofoundress number as in the classical theory. However, sex ratios are generally shifted upward when DNA methylation is disrupted. Our data are consistent with predictions from genomic conflict over sex allocation theory and suggest that sex ratios may be closer to the optimum for maternally inherited alleles.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 513-518 |
Journal | American Naturalist |
Volume | 186 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 7 Aug 2015 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Oct 2015 |
Keywords
- DNA Methylation
- Sex ratio
- Local mate competition
- Genomic conflict
- Epigenetics
- Haplodiploidy
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'DNA methylation and sex allocation in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Genetics and genomics of adaptive sex: The genetics and genomics of adaptive sex ratio behaviour
Shuker, D. M. (PI) & Ritchie, M. G. (CoI)
7/01/13 → 6/04/16
Project: Standard
Profiles
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David Michael Shuker
- School of Biology - Senior Lecturer
- Centre for Biological Diversity
- Institute of Behavioural and Neural Sciences
Person: Academic
Datasets
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DNA methylation and sex allocation in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis (dataset)
Cook, N. (Creator), Pannebakker, B. (Creator), Tauber, E. (Creator) & Shuker, D. M. (Creator), Dryad, 2015
DOI: 10.5061/dryad.15nj0
Dataset