ArticleBiology letters2020
Sperm sex ratio adjustment in a mammal: perceived male competition leads to elevated proportions of female-producing sperm.
Article in Biology letters, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does a Father's Social Environment Influence Their Sons' Sperm Sex Ratio? Potential for the Epigenetic Transmission of a Sex-Allocating Mechanism.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Effect of Occupational Radiation Exposure on Offspring Sex Ratio Amongst Male Orthopaedic Surgeons in India-A Cross-Sectional Study.Indian journal of orthopaedics · 2025Article
- Reproductive Tract Mucus May Influence the Sex of Offspring in Cattle: Study in Cows That Have Repeatedly Calved Single-Sex Offspring.Veterinary sciences · 2024Article
- Parental effects on offspring sex ratio in the Numbat (Journal of mammalogy · 2023Article
- Direct and cross-generational effects of reproduction on fitness and behavioral variability in male-biased environments.Current zoology · 2023Article
- Intergenerational response to sperm competition risk in an invasive mammal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- Y/X-Chromosome-Bearing Sperm Shows Elevated Ratio in the Left but Not the Right Testes in Healthy Mice.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- Association between occupational testicular radiation exposure and lower male sex ratio of offspring among orthopedic surgeons.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mammal sex allocation research has focused almost exclusively on maternal traits, but it is now apparent that fathers can also influence offspring sex ratios. Parents that produce female offspring under conditions of intense male-male competition can benefit with greater assurance of maximized grand-parentage. Adaptive adjustment in the sperm sex ratio, for example with an increase in the production of X-chromosome bearing sperm (CBS), is one potential paternal mechanism for achieving female-biased sex ratios. Here, we tested this mechanistic hypothesis by varying the risk of male-male competition that male house mice perceived during development, and quantifying sperm sex ratios at sexual maturity. Our analyses revealed that males exposed to a competitive 'risk' produced lower proportions of Y-CBS compared to males that matured under 'no risk' of competition. We also explored whether testosterone production was linked to sperm sex ratio variation, but found no evidence to support this. We discuss our findings in relation to the adaptive value of sperm sex ratio adjustments and the role of steroid hormones in socially induced sex allocation.
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Registered trials
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.