Genomic study of the mating strategy polymorphism in side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana)
Male side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana) exhibit three mating strategies whose competitive dynamics are the first known example of a biological rock-paper-scissors game. Orange-throated males can dominate blue males and control large territories with many females because of their greater endurance and testosterone levels. Blue-throated males mate guard females and thereby exclude yellow males. Yellow-throated males sneak onto territories of other males to obtain mates, which works well in the large territories of orange males. Thus, orange-morphs can beat blue-morphs, blue-morphs beat yellow-morphs, and yellow-morphs beat orange-morphs. The mating types in side-blotched lizards differ across multiple traits including behavior, coloration, hormone levels, and brain morphology. We conducted a genomic study of the polymorphism to determine the genetic basis of the different mating types and how they have evolved.