ArticleBehavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
Mate choice in sticklebacks reveals that immunogenes can drive ecological speciation.
Article in Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Y-linked duplication of anti-Mullerian hormone is the sex determination gene in threespine stickleback.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Non-random mating behaviour between diverging littoral and pelagic three-spined sticklebacks in an invasive population from Upper Lake Constance.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- A Review of Suggested Mechanisms of MHC Odor Signaling.Biology · 2022Review
- Allorecognition genes drive reproductive isolation in Podospora anserina.Nature ecology & evolution · 2022Article
- Long term patterns of association between MHC and helminth burdens in the bank vole support Red Queen dynamics.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Divergent and non-parallel evolution of MHC IIB in the Neotropical Midas cichlid species complex.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- The Olfactory Organ Is a Unique Site for Neutrophils in the Brain.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Article
- The Olfactory Tract: Basis for Future Evolution in Response to Rapidly Changing Ecological Niches.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2022Review
- Review
- Courtship behavior, nesting microhabitat, and assortative mating in sympatric stickleback species pairs.Ecology and evolution · 2021Article
- Female assortative mate choice functionally validates synthesized male odours of evolving stickleback river-lake ecotypes.Biology letters · 2018Article
- Role of sexual imprinting in assortative mating and premating isolation in Darwin's finches.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018Article
- Mate choice in sticklebacks reveals that immunogenes can drive ecological speciation.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
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4 authors.
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Abstract
Adaptation to ecologically contrasting niches can lead to the formation of new species. Theoretically, this process of ecological speciation can be driven by pleiotropic "magic traits" that genetically link natural and sexual selection. To qualify as a true magic trait, the pleiotropic function of a gene must be reflected in biologically relevant mechanisms underlying both local adaptation and mate choice. The immune genes of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) contribute to parasite resistance and also play a major role in sexual selection. Hence, the MHC may encode a candidate magic trait. Using diverging 3-spined stickleback populations from a connected lake-river habitat, we show with mate choice experiments in a flow channel that polymorphic MHC genes probably underlie assortative mating with respect to particular habitat-adapted ecotypes, potentially resulting in reproductive isolation. By manipulating olfactory cues in controlled experiments, we show that female sticklebacks employ MHC-dependent male olfactory signals to select mates with which they can achieve a habitat-specific MHC gene structure that optimally protects their offspring against local parasites. By using MHC-based olfactory signals, females thus select individuals of their own population as mates. Our results demonstrate how mate choice and parasite resistance may be functionally linked. These findings suggest that MHC genes are pleiotropic and encode a true magic trait of biologically significant effect.
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