Aquaculture has made an enormous contribution to the world food production,especially to the sustainable supply of animal proteins.The utility of diverse reproduction strategies in fish,such as the exploiting use of u...Aquaculture has made an enormous contribution to the world food production,especially to the sustainable supply of animal proteins.The utility of diverse reproduction strategies in fish,such as the exploiting use of unisexual gynogenesis,has created a typical case of fish genetic breeding.A number of fish species show substantial sexual dimorphism that is closely linked to multiple economic traits including growth rate and body size,and the efficient development of sex-linked genetic markers and sex control biotechnologies has provided significant approaches to increase the production and value for commercial purposes.Along with the rapid development of genomics and molecular genetic techniques,the genetic basis of sexual dimorphism has been gradually deciphered,and great progress has been made in the mechanisms of fish sex determination and identification of sex-determining genes.This review summarizes the progress to provide some directive and objective thinking for further research in this field.展开更多
The Chinese skink ( Eumeces chinensis) is sexually dimorphic in both body size and head size,and males are the larger.A comprehensive analysis of the ecological and evolutionary sources of sex differences in growth an...The Chinese skink ( Eumeces chinensis) is sexually dimorphic in both body size and head size,and males are the larger.A comprehensive analysis of the ecological and evolutionary sources of sex differences in growth and size of head requires a detailed understanding of growth trajectories during ontogeny.Here,we pay particular attention to the point during ontogeny at which males and females diverge.Hatchlings (newly emerged young) and juveniles smaller than 70 mm SVL do not exhibit sexual dimorphism in head size,whereas males and females larger than 70mm SVL begin to diverge.The sexual dimorphism in head size is much more pronounced in adults than in juveniles sharing this character.Adult females partition relatively less resources into head growth but more into carcass growth,thereby leaving a larger space for eggs so as to increase reproductive output.Adult males,on the contrary,partition relatively more resources into head growth,thereby increasing their reproductive success and enhancing their ability to defend predators.Skinks at different ontogenetic stages slightly differ in food niche width and breadth.However,no direct evidence shows a substantial contribution of the divergence in head size to the segregation of food niche between males and females.Our results indicate that sexual selection is the main evolutionary source of sexual dimorphism in body and head sizes in E.chinensis .展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Basic Research Program(2010CB126301)the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest from Ministry of Agriculture of China(2009030406)+1 种基金the Autonomous Project of State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology(2011FBZ17)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31301931)
文摘Aquaculture has made an enormous contribution to the world food production,especially to the sustainable supply of animal proteins.The utility of diverse reproduction strategies in fish,such as the exploiting use of unisexual gynogenesis,has created a typical case of fish genetic breeding.A number of fish species show substantial sexual dimorphism that is closely linked to multiple economic traits including growth rate and body size,and the efficient development of sex-linked genetic markers and sex control biotechnologies has provided significant approaches to increase the production and value for commercial purposes.Along with the rapid development of genomics and molecular genetic techniques,the genetic basis of sexual dimorphism has been gradually deciphered,and great progress has been made in the mechanisms of fish sex determination and identification of sex-determining genes.This review summarizes the progress to provide some directive and objective thinking for further research in this field.
文摘The Chinese skink ( Eumeces chinensis) is sexually dimorphic in both body size and head size,and males are the larger.A comprehensive analysis of the ecological and evolutionary sources of sex differences in growth and size of head requires a detailed understanding of growth trajectories during ontogeny.Here,we pay particular attention to the point during ontogeny at which males and females diverge.Hatchlings (newly emerged young) and juveniles smaller than 70 mm SVL do not exhibit sexual dimorphism in head size,whereas males and females larger than 70mm SVL begin to diverge.The sexual dimorphism in head size is much more pronounced in adults than in juveniles sharing this character.Adult females partition relatively less resources into head growth but more into carcass growth,thereby leaving a larger space for eggs so as to increase reproductive output.Adult males,on the contrary,partition relatively more resources into head growth,thereby increasing their reproductive success and enhancing their ability to defend predators.Skinks at different ontogenetic stages slightly differ in food niche width and breadth.However,no direct evidence shows a substantial contribution of the divergence in head size to the segregation of food niche between males and females.Our results indicate that sexual selection is the main evolutionary source of sexual dimorphism in body and head sizes in E.chinensis .
