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MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has several important roles in kin recognition, pathogen resistance and mate selection. Research in fish, birds and mammals has suggested that individuals optimise MHC diversity, and therefore offspring fitness, when choosing mates. In reptiles, however, it...

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Autores principales: Han, Qun-Hua, Sun, Ru-Na, Yang, Hai-Qiong, Wang, Zhen-Wei, Wan, Qiu-Hong, Fang, Sheng-Guo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6781117/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30670843
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0177-8
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author Han, Qun-Hua
Sun, Ru-Na
Yang, Hai-Qiong
Wang, Zhen-Wei
Wan, Qiu-Hong
Fang, Sheng-Guo
author_facet Han, Qun-Hua
Sun, Ru-Na
Yang, Hai-Qiong
Wang, Zhen-Wei
Wan, Qiu-Hong
Fang, Sheng-Guo
author_sort Han, Qun-Hua
collection PubMed
description The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has several important roles in kin recognition, pathogen resistance and mate selection. Research in fish, birds and mammals has suggested that individuals optimise MHC diversity, and therefore offspring fitness, when choosing mates. In reptiles, however, it is unclear whether female mate choice is based on genome-wide genetic characteristics such as microsatellite DNA loci, particular functional-trait loci (e.g., MHC) or both, and MHC's effects on mate choice remain relatively understudied. Herein, we used 13 microsatellite loci and two MHC class I loci to investigate female mate choice of Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis) in the semi-natural condition. We also determined correlations between the MHC genotype of breeding males and male reproductive success. We found that MHC-heterozygous males harbour a greater reproductive success, which probably is the reason that these males are more preferred by the females than MHC-homozygous males. Furthermore, the MHC class I amino-acid distance and functional distance of true mating pairs were higher compared with those of randomly sampled pairs. Analysis of microsatellites revealed that, despite mate choice, females did not completely avoid inbreeding. These findings are the first evidence of MHC-associated mate choice in Chinese alligators, suggesting that females may adopt different mating strategies after assessing the MHC characteristics of potential mates.
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spelling pubmed-67811172019-10-09 MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis) Han, Qun-Hua Sun, Ru-Na Yang, Hai-Qiong Wang, Zhen-Wei Wan, Qiu-Hong Fang, Sheng-Guo Heredity (Edinb) Article The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has several important roles in kin recognition, pathogen resistance and mate selection. Research in fish, birds and mammals has suggested that individuals optimise MHC diversity, and therefore offspring fitness, when choosing mates. In reptiles, however, it is unclear whether female mate choice is based on genome-wide genetic characteristics such as microsatellite DNA loci, particular functional-trait loci (e.g., MHC) or both, and MHC's effects on mate choice remain relatively understudied. Herein, we used 13 microsatellite loci and two MHC class I loci to investigate female mate choice of Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis) in the semi-natural condition. We also determined correlations between the MHC genotype of breeding males and male reproductive success. We found that MHC-heterozygous males harbour a greater reproductive success, which probably is the reason that these males are more preferred by the females than MHC-homozygous males. Furthermore, the MHC class I amino-acid distance and functional distance of true mating pairs were higher compared with those of randomly sampled pairs. Analysis of microsatellites revealed that, despite mate choice, females did not completely avoid inbreeding. These findings are the first evidence of MHC-associated mate choice in Chinese alligators, suggesting that females may adopt different mating strategies after assessing the MHC characteristics of potential mates. Springer International Publishing 2019-01-22 2019-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6781117/ /pubmed/30670843 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0177-8 Text en © The Author(s) 2019 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Han, Qun-Hua
Sun, Ru-Na
Yang, Hai-Qiong
Wang, Zhen-Wei
Wan, Qiu-Hong
Fang, Sheng-Guo
MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
title MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
title_full MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
title_fullStr MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
title_full_unstemmed MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
title_short MHC class I diversity predicts non-random mating in Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis)
title_sort mhc class i diversity predicts non-random mating in chinese alligators (alligator sinensis)
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6781117/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30670843
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41437-018-0177-8
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