Adam Chippindale visits

Adam Chippindale will be visiting for three days, 30/4 - 2/5/2008. Adam did much of the key empirical work on sexually antagonistic fitness variation and selection, using Drosophila hemiclones.

Evolution & Ecology Research

Centre Seminar Series

Adam Chippindale

Queen’s University, Canada

http://biology.queensu.ca/faculty/chippindale.html

The Evolutionary Battle of the Sexes: Arms Race or Tug-of-War?

ABSTRACT: Females and males are often selected to pursue different strategies to maximize reproductive success, which results in two kinds of evolutionary conflict between the sexes. First, there may be direct conflict over the timing and frequency of reproduction, and over control of fertilization. This kind of conflict has recently been shown to be widespread and associated with rapid coevolution between the sexes, potentially via an 'arms race' dynamic. A second kind of conflict is over expression of genes shared by the two sexes but under different selection pressures in each one. This 'intralocus' sexual conflict means that a gene favoured for function in a son may have a deleterious effect on the fitness of a daughter, and vice versa. Intralocus conflict has more of a tug-of-war dynamic, and may be intrinsic to the evolution of separate dimorphic sexes. Evidence for both forms of conflict in a Drosophila model system will be discussed, but it will be argued that intralocus sexual conflict is a particularly potent evolutionary force degrading the fitness of sexual populations, helping to explain the persistence of genetic variation for fitness and the existence of intersex phenotypes. The significance of this kind of sexual conflict is just beginning to be appreciated, with several recent corroborative results from other organisms.

LOCATION: Biomed lecture theatre F

TIME: 4-5pm Thursday

DATE: 1^st May 2008

DRINKS: There will be drinks and nibbles after Adam’s seminar (in the biomed foyer).