title: Female, but not male, nematodes evolve under experimental sexual coevolution.
abstract: Coevolution between the sexes is often considered to be male-driven: the male genome is constantly scanned by selection for traits that increase relative male fertilization success. Whenever these traits are harmful to females, the female genome is scanned for resistance traits. The resulting antagonistic coevolution between the sexes is analogous to Red Queen dynamics, where adaptation and counteradaptation keep each other in check. However, the underlying assumption that male trait evolution precedes female trait counteradaptation has received few empirical tests. Using the gonochoristic nematode Caenorhabditis remanei, we now show that 20 generations of relaxed versus increased sexual selection pressure lead to female, but not to male, trait evolution, questioning the generality of a male-driven process.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Evolutionary Ecology, Institute for Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fritzsche
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Evolutionary Ecology, Institute for Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany nadinet@uoregon.edu.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Timmermeyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Evolutionary Ecology, Institute for Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wolter
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Evolutionary Ecology, Institute for Evolution and Ecology, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Michiels
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D012098:Reproduction; D012744:Sex Ratio
keywords: Caenorhabditis remanei; Red Queen; experimental evolution; male harm; sexual selection; sexually antagonistic coevolution