Abstract
Sex-biased gene expression is likely to account for most sexually dimorphic traits because males and females share much of their genome. When fitness optima differ between sexes for a shared trait, sexual dimorphism can allow each sex to express their optimum trait phenotype,andinthisway, the evolution of sex-biased gene expression is one mechanism that could help to resolve intralocus sexual conflict. Genome-wide patterns of sex-biased gene expression have been identified in a number of studies, which we review here. However, very little is known about how sex-biased gene expression relates to sex-specific fitness and about how sex-biased gene expression and conflict vary throughout development or across different genotypes, populations, and environments. We discuss the importance of these neglected areas of research and use data from a small-scale experiment on sex-specific expression of genes throughout development to highlight potentially interesting avenues for future research.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | a017632 |
| Journal | Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2015 |
| Externally published | Yes |