Approved Research

Detecting sexually antagonistic conflict across the human genome

Lay summary

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes - 22 pairs of autosomes, and one pair of sex chromosomes. Male individuals usually have an X  and Y chromosome, while females usually have two X chromosomes. Unlike the autosomes, the X and Y chromosomes spend different amounts of time in males and females across generations. Because the sex chromosomes spend different amounts of time in males and females, we expect them to display unique patterns of sexually antagonistic variation. Sexually antagonistic variation simply describes genetic variants that are either beneficial in females and costly in males, or beneficial in males and costly in females. As males and females have different physiological and morphological requirements, sexually antagonistic variation is expected to be very common throughout the genome, and, because it reflects selection acting in opposite directions in each sex, we predict that sexually antagonistic variation will evolve differently in regions of the genome that are not shared equally between the sexes. This project will investigate the distinct role of the sex chromosomes and other sex-biased genetic elements, such as the mitochondria, in promoting and maintaining sexually antagonistic variation. By studying regions of the genome that spend different amounts of time in males and females - those exceptions to the symmetric transmission of the autosomes - we can gain insight into how sexually antagonistic variation is maintained across the genome as a whole.