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The Genomics of Sexual Ornaments, Gene Identification and Pleiotropy

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Evolutionary Biology: Biodiversification from Genotype to Phenotype

Abstract

Sexual ornaments, which are traits that make an individual attractive to potential mates, have a long history in evolutionary biology. These adaptations to mate choice have been the subject of research from the perspective of genetics, ecology and theoretical biology. The rapid development of genomic methods has equipped modern genetics with new tools to answer old questions and open up new areas of analysis. For research into sexual ornamentation, this has meant the application of genetic mapping, in particular quantitative trait locus (QTL) methods, and transcriptomics to search for genes and biological pathways affecting ornamental traits and investigate pleiotropy between ornamental traits, ornament preference and fitness-related traits. Examples come from QTL studies of beak colour in the zebra finch, colocalisation between loci for ornaments and other traits in crickets and moths, QTL mapping and population genomics of colour in guppies and cichlids, genetical genomics and pleiotropy mapping of comb size in the chicken, transcriptomic studies of handicap mechanisms in the grouse, and genetics and molecular evolution of several sexual traits in Drosophila. Genomic methods help reveal the variety of mechanisms involved in sexual ornamentation and are complementary to quantitative genetics, population genetics and organismal studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Martin Johnsson

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  1. Martin Johnsson
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Correspondence to Martin Johnsson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Evolution Biologique et Modélisation I2M UMR 7373, Aix Marseille Université /CNRS, Marseilles, France

    Pierre Pontarotti

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Johnsson, M. (2015). The Genomics of Sexual Ornaments, Gene Identification and Pleiotropy. In: Pontarotti, P. (eds) Evolutionary Biology: Biodiversification from Genotype to Phenotype. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19932-0_2

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