This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Allowing females to mate with multiple males, rather than just one, could help make species more resistant to extinction, University of East Anglia research shows. A new study reveals that when females have multiple males to mate with, their offspring inherit significantly fewer harmful genetic mutations.
This, in turn, makes the entire population healthier and less likely to die out. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, emerged from a 15-year experiment involving thousands of red flour beetles. But the team says it supports a long-standing evolutionary theory that could apply across much of the animal kingdom.
Researchers compared beetle populations in which females had just one male to mate with with populations where females could mate in a competitive environment involving multiple males. After 156 generations, populations exposed to stronger sexual selection carried substantially fewer harmful genetic mutations. This was because females had greater choice of mates and males faced more competition to reproduce than in populations where mating opportunities were restricted.
Michael Pointer, from UEA's School of Biological Sciences, said, "In one type of population, females could mate with up to five males in each generation. In the other type, the opportunity for sexual selection was removed by pairing each female with just one male each generation. "We then sequenced the genomes of multiple beetles from each population and identified the different mutations within those genomes, including those predicted to be harmful.
We found that when the females had more males to potentially mate with, those populations had fewer harmful mutations, but similar overall genetic diversity." "In simple terms, we found that populations of beetles where there were multiple males that the female could potentially mate with ended up with healthier genomes. "This genetic advantage appeared to have real-world consequences because populations carrying higher levels of harmful mutations were far more likely to become extinct when subjected to inbreeding. "Indeed, this mutation load proved a better predictor of extinction risk than the mating system itself," he added.
The study offers evidence for a long-debated evolutionary idea known as the "good genes" hypothesis. The theory suggests that successful males tend to be those with the best genes—in this case, those with the fewest harmful mutations. When females can choose between competing males, or when males compete intensely for matings, those with poorer genetic health are less likely to pass on their genes.
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