ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2013
Neutral and selection-driven decay of sexual traits in asexual stick insects.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed.
- Sexual conflict as a constraint on asexual reproduction: an empirical review.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Interplay of asexual and sexual reproduction in bifunctional insects.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Reproductive Transitions and Sperm Utilisation in a Facultatively Parthenogenetic Stick Insect.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Natural repeated backcrosses lead to triploidy and tetraploidy in parthenogenetic butterfly lizards (Leiolepis: Agamidae).Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Lack of successful sexual reproduction suggests the irreversible parthenogenesis in a stick insect.Ecology · 2025Article
- Asexuality shapes traits in a hybrid fish.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Parthenogenetic Stick Insects Exhibit Signatures of Preservation in the Molecular Architecture of Male Reproduction.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Evidence for cryptic sex in parthenogenetic stick insects of the genusProceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Gene transcriptional profiles in gonads of Bacillus taxa (Phasmida) with different cytological mechanisms of automictic parthenogenesis.Zoological letters · 2022Article
- Investigation of the spermathecal morphology, reproductive strategy and fate of stored spermatozoa in three important thysanopteran species.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Dynamics of sex-biased gene expression during development in the stick insect Timema californicum.Heredity · 2022Article
- Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexualPeerJ · 2022Article
- Transitions to asexuality and evolution of gene expression inProceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- A single QTL with large effect is associated with female functional virginity in an asexual parasitoid wasp.Molecular ecology · 2021Article
- Reversed evolution of grazer resistance to cyanobacteria.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Genomic Features of Parthenogenetic Animals.The Journal of heredity · 2021Article
- Extremely Widespread Parthenogenesis and a Trade-Off Between Alternative Forms of Reproduction in Mayflies (Ephemeroptera).The Journal of heredity · 2021Article
- Spermathecal variation in temperate Opiliones.Integrative and comparative biology · 2020Article
- Sex-biased gene expression is repeatedly masculinized in asexual females.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Loss and gain of sexual reproduction in the same stick insect.Molecular ecology · 2019Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Environmental shifts and lifestyle changes may result in formerly adaptive traits becoming non-functional or maladaptive. The subsequent decay of such traits highlights the importance of natural selection for adaptations, yet its causes have rarely been investigated. To study the fate of formerly adaptive traits after lifestyle changes, we evaluated sexual traits in five independently derived asexual lineages, including traits that are specific to males and therefore not exposed to selection. At least four of the asexual lineages retained the capacity to produce males that display normal courtship behaviours and are able to fertilize eggs of females from related sexual species. The maintenance of male traits may stem from pleiotropy, or from these traits only regressing via drift, which may require millions of years to generate phenotypic effects. By contrast, we found parallel decay of sexual traits in females. Asexual females produced altered airborne and contact signals, had modified sperm storage organs, and lost the ability to fertilize their eggs, impeding reversals to sexual reproduction. Female sexual traits were decayed even in recently derived asexuals, suggesting that trait changes following the evolution of asexuality, when they occur, proceed rapidly and are driven by selective processes rather than drift.
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