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Dryad

Data from: High-protein paternal diet confers an advantage to sons in sperm competition

Cite this dataset

Zajitschek, Felix; Zajitschek, Susanne; Manier, Mollie (2017). Data from: High-protein paternal diet confers an advantage to sons in sperm competition [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9qs53

Abstract

Parental environment can widely influence offspring phenotype, but paternal effects in the absence of parental care remain poorly understood. We asked if protein content in the larval diet of fathers affected paternity success and gene expression in their sons. We found that males reared on high-protein diet had sons that fared better during sperm competition, suggesting that postcopulatory sexual selection is subject to transgenerational paternal effects. Moreover, immune response genes were downregulated in sons of low-protein fathers, while genes involved in metabolic and reproductive processes were upregulated.

Usage notes

Funding

National Science Foundation, Award: DEB-1257859