Adaptive sex differences in growth of pre-ovulation oocytes in a passerine bird

Alexander V Badyaev; Hubert Schwabl; Rebecca L Young; Renée A Duckworth; Kristen J Navara; A F Parlow

doi:10.1098/rspb.2005.3194

Back

Adaptive sex differences in growth of pre-ovulation oocytes in a passerine bird

Journal article

Open access

Adaptive sex differences in growth of pre-ovulation oocytes in a passerine bird

Alexander V Badyaev, Hubert Schwabl, Rebecca L Young, Renée A Duckworth, Kristen J Navara and A F Parlow

Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, Vol.272(1577), pp.2165-2172

10/22/2005

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3194

Handle:

https://hdl.handle.net/2376/108149

PMCID: PMC1559945

PMID: 16188605

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3194View

Published (Version of record) Open

Abstract

Montana

Sex Determination Analysis - methods

Temperature

Oocytes - growth & development

Oocytes - metabolism

Adaptation, Physiological - physiology

Finches - genetics

Male

Sex Characteristics

Finches - physiology

Sex Ratio

Biological Evolution

Prolactin - blood

Animals

Radioimmunoassay

Androgens - blood

Polymerase Chain Reaction

Female

Maternal modification of offspring sex in birds has strong fitness consequences, however the mechanisms by which female birds can bias sex of their progeny in close concordance with the environment of breeding are not known. In recently established populations of house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), breeding females lay a sex-biased sequence of eggs when ambient temperature causes early onset of incubation. We studied the mechanisms behind close association of incubation and sex-determination strategies in this species and discovered that pre-ovulation oocytes that produce males and females differed strongly in the temporal patterns of proliferation and growth. In turn, sex-specific exposure of oocytes to maternal secretion of prolactin and androgens produced distinct accumulation of maternal steroids in oocyte yolks in relation to oocyte proliferation order. These findings suggest that sex difference in oocyte growth and egg-laying sequence is an adaptive outcome of hormonal constraints imposed by the overlap of early incubation and oogenesis in this population, and that the close integration of maternal incubation, oocytes' sex-determination and growth might be under control of the same hormonal mechanism. We further document that population establishment and the evolution of these maternal strategies is facilitated by their strong effects on female and offspring fitness in a recently established part of the species range.

Metrics

7 Record Views

See more details

Details

Title: Adaptive sex differences in growth of pre-ovulation oocytes in a passerine bird
Creators: Alexander V Badyaev - Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0088, USA. abadyaev@email.arizona.edu
Hubert Schwabl
Rebecca L Young
Renée A Duckworth
Kristen J Navara
A F Parlow
Publication Details: Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, Vol.272(1577), pp.2165-2172
Academic Unit: Biological Sciences, School of
Publisher: England
Identifiers: 99900546994001842
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article