ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2011
Female house sparrows "count on" male genes: experimental evidence for MHC-dependent mate preference in birds.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mate choice is affected by parasite infestation rate of the choosing individual as well as of potential mating partners.Current zoology · 2023Article
- A Review of Suggested Mechanisms of MHC Odor Signaling.Biology · 2022Review
- House sparrows do not exhibit a preference for the scent of potential partners with different MHC-I diversity and genetic distances.PloS one · 2022Article
- Female-Based Patterns and Social Function in Avian Chemical Communication.Journal of chemical ecology · 2021Review
- Mating preferences can drive expansion or contraction of major histocompatibility complex gene family.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Review
- Can house sparrows recognize familiar or kin-related individuals by scent?Current zoology · 2019Article
- MHC diversity and female age underpin reproductive success in an Australian icon; the Tasmanian Devil.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- House sparrows' (Frontiers in zoology · 2018Article
- Major histocompatibility complex genes partly explain early survival in house sparrows.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- The effect of social connections on the discovery of multiple hidden food patches in a bird species.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Mate choice for major histocompatibility complex complementarity in a strictly monogamous bird, the grey partridge (Frontiers in zoology · 2017Article
- Context-dependent female preference for multiple ornaments in the bearded reedling.Ecology and evolution · 2016Article
- Olfactory Assessment of Competitors to the Nest Site: An Experiment on a Passerine Species.PloS one · 2016Article
- Genetic structure in insular and mainland populations of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) and their hemosporidian parasites.Ecology and evolution · 2015Article
- The perfume of reproduction in birds: chemosignaling in avian social life.Hormones and behavior · 2015Review
- Influence of Inbreeding on Female Mate Choice in Two Species ofJournal of insect behavior · 2014Article
- Females tend to prefer genetically similar mates in an island population of house sparrows.BMC evolutionary biology · 2014Article
- MHC class IIB exon 2 polymorphism in the Grey partridge (Perdix perdix) is shaped by selection, recombination and gene conversion.PloS one · 2013Article
- MHC class I of saltwater crocodiles (Crocodylus porosus): polymorphism and balancing selection.Immunogenetics · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFemales can potentially assess the quality of potential mates using their secondary sexual traits, and obtain "good genes" that increase offspring fitness. Another potential indirect benefit from mating preferences is genetic compatibility, which does not require extravagant or viability indicator traits. Several studies with mammals and fish indicate that the genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) influence olfactory cues and mating preferences, and such preferences confer genetic benefits to offspring. We investigated whether individual MHC diversity (class I) influences mating preferences in house sparrows (Passer domesticus).
resultsOverall, we found no evidence that females preferred males with high individual MHC diversity. Yet, when we considered individual MHC allelic diversity of the females, we found that females with a low number of alleles were most attracted to males carrying a high number of MHC alleles, which might reflect a mating-up preference by allele counting.
conclusionsThis is the first experimental evidence for MHC-dependent mating preferences in an avian species to our knowledge. Our findings raise questions about the underlying mechanisms through which birds discriminate individual MHC diversity among conspecifics, and they suggest a novel mechanism through which mating preferences might promote the evolution of MHC polymorphisms and generate positive selection for duplicated MHC loci.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.