“Even though males and females share nearly all of their genomes, they each have to deal with very distinct selective pressures,” said Nicholas VanKuren, a graduate student at UChicago and co-author of the study, published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution. “The really unexpected result from this study is that despite being so young, these genes rapidly evolved, not only in a way to mitigate the sexual conflict but also to develop essential, sex-specific functions.”
Duplicate genes help animals resolve sexual conflict - Nicholas VanKuren, Ph.D. GGSB Alumni Featured