Evolution Letters最新文献

{"title":"Visual pigments of basal lineages of bony fishes support independent ecological shifts from a shallow marine to a freshwater niche.","authors":"Yimeng Cui, Na Li, Heye Chen, Lingying Xing, Yaoqi Xie, Yanfang Xie, Mengyuan Ma, Jiayi Zhao, Wenna Nan, Lei Lei, Kun Wang, Stephen J Rossiter, Yang Liu","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qrag006","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qrag006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Bony fishes (Osteichthyes) occupy a diverse range of aquatic habitats, yet the ecological transitions underlying their early evolution remain debated. Extant \"living fossil\" lineages-such as lungfishes and basal ray-finned fishes-are primarily restricted to benthic freshwater habitats, raising questions about the ancestral ecology of bony fishes. To investigate this, we reconstructed and expressed visual pigments from both extant and inferred ancestral taxa in vitro, enabling characterization of their spectral sensitivities. The results reveal that the ancestral visual phenotype is most consistent with adaptation to shallow-water light conditions. Furthermore, parallel shifts in the spectral tuning of visual pigments across both lobe-finned and ray-finned fish lineages were observed, with consistent patterns of shorter wavelength tuning in middle/long-wavelength-sensitive pigments, paired with longer wavelength shifts in others. The shifts of spectral tuning support an ecological transition from marine to freshwater habitats. Additionally, changes in rhodopsin retinal release rates and signatures of positive selection on opsin genes further point to independent visual adaptations to freshwater environments in both lineages. These findings suggest that early bony fish evolution involved ecological expansion from shallow marine habitats into deeper or more turbid freshwater environments, as reflected in parallel adaptations of visual systems to benthic photic conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 2","pages":"228-237"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043905/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624420","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Genomic analyses in <i>Drosophila</i> do not support the classic allopatric model of speciation.","authors":"Leeban H Yusuf, Dominik R Laetsch, Konrad Lohse, Michael G Ritchie","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf053","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf053","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The allopatric model of speciation has dominated our understanding of speciation biology and biogeography since the Modern Synthesis. It is uncontroversial because reproductive isolation may readily emerge as a by-product of evolutionary divergence during allopatry unopposed by gene flow. Recent genomic studies have found that gene flow between species is common, but whether allopatric speciation is common has rarely been systematically tested across a continuum of closely related species. Here, we fit a range of demographic models of evolutionary divergence to whole-genome sequence data from 93 pairs of <i>Drosophila</i> species to infer speciation histories and levels of post-divergence gene flow. We find that speciation with gene flow is common, even between currently allopatric pairs of species. Estimates of historical gene flow are not predicted by current range overlap. Whilst evidence for secondary contact is generally limited, a few sympatric pairs showed strong support for a secondary contact model. Our analyses suggest that most speciation processes involve some long-term gene flow, perhaps due to repeated cycles of allopatry and contact, without requiring an extensive allopatric phase.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 2","pages":"186-194"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043940/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Longevity is heritable and negatively genetically correlated between the sexes in yellow-bellied marmots.","authors":"Michela N Dumas, Bennett Krasnay, Carol-Ann Chabot, Maxime Fraser Franco, Émilie Gagnon, Emil Isaksson, Lytana Lécuyer, Giulia Masoero, Paula Molina, Pierre-Olivier Montiglio, Sarah Saneeibajgiran, Sophia St Lawrence, Daniel T Blumstein, Julien G A Martin","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf051","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf051","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Longevity, a major fitness component, is heritable in multiple species, including both captive and wild populations, and often varies widely between the sexes. The sex-specific genetic architecture of longevity, however, has rarely been estimated in wild populations, despite its potentially large implication for the evolutionary dynamic of a species. Using a long-term study of wild yellow-bellied marmots, a hibernating rodent, we estimated sex-specific additive genetic variance <i>V_A</i> and the cross-sex genetic correlation <i>r_fm</i> of longevity. Given the challenges associated with accurately measuring longevity in the wild, we used a new analytical approach based on a Censored Poisson distribution allowing us to integrate measurement errors on longevity in the model. Our approach revealed moderate and comparable <i>V_A</i> in both sexes and a strongly negative <i>r_fm</i> , albeit with large credible intervals. This contrasts with the results from a classic model with a restricted dataset for which <i>V_A</i> in males was estimated as zero, rendering the <i>r_fm</i> inestimable and uninterpretable. Our results suggest that studying selection and evolution while focusing on only one sex can lead to erroneous predictions given that, in marmots, selection pressures increasing longevity in one sex would inherently select for the reverse effect in the other sex. Taken together, this suggests the possible presence of a self-reinforcing feedback loop for the development of different life-history strategies among sexes in marmots, with long-lived females producing short-lived males who must maximize early life reproductive success (\"live-fast die-young\" strategy) and vice versa. Our study provides rare evidence of heritable longevity in a wild population and highlights how genetic conflicts between the sexes may constrain evolution and help maintain sex-specific genetic variance in fitness.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 2","pages":"165-172"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043904/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624453","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Environmental predictability drives different routes to adaptation.","authors":"Anna C Vinton, Ben Ibbott, Jinlin Chen, Samuel J L Gascoigne, Dominique Baptiste, Tim Coulson","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf052","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf052","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Climate change is altering thermal environments, yet we know little about how environmental predictability shapes species' adaptive responses. Different species may rely on plasticity or evolution to survive environmental change, but how these strategies depend on environmental predictability remains unclear. Experimental evidence that distinguishes between plastic and evolutionary responses to different patterns of environmental variability has been lacking. Here, we present the first experimental demonstration that compares adaptive responses to predictable versus unpredictable thermal variation, disentangling plastic from evolutionary changes. Using <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> populations evolved for 11 generations under constant, predictably fluctuating, and randomly fluctuating thermal regimes, we assessed survival and fecundity: a plasticity assay testing flies directly from their evolutionary environments to capture total phenotypic responses, and a common garden assay after two generations of standardized rearing to isolate genetic changes. Strikingly, environmental predictability shaped divergent life-history strategies that were only revealed by comparing our two assays. Populations from predictably fluctuating environments evolved enhanced survival, but this benefit was only visible in the common garden assay, not when tested directly from their evolutionary environment. Conversely, populations from randomly fluctuating environments showed reduced survival in the plasticity assay and consistently lower fecundity in the common garden assay, though this reproductive cost was completely masked in the plasticity assay. These contrasting responses demonstrate that environmental predictability fundamentally determines life-history evolution: predictable variation favors investment in stress-resistant longevity, while unpredictable variation imposes both immediate survival costs and constitutive reproductive constraints. Our findings challenge the traditional view that environmental variation uniformly selects for increased plasticity, instead revealing that the predictability of environmental change determines both the target and mechanism of adaptation. As climate change increases environmental variability and reduces environmental predictability, these insights provide crucial guidance for predicting species persistence and developing effective conservation strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 2","pages":"173-185"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043901/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624457","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do alternative reproductive tactics facilitate evolutionary rescue? A comment on Knell & Parrett 2024.","authors":"Jana M Riederer, Franz J Weissing","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf049","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf049","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This contribution is a comment on a simulation study of Robert J. Knell and Jonathan M. Parrett (Evo. Lett. 8, 539-349, 2024). There is growing evidence that in ecological adaptation, sexual selection is a \"double-edged sword\"-it can fuel adaptation and population persistence, or hinder adaptation and lead to population extinction. Knell and Parrett explore this topic, using an individual-based model to investigate how alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) affect adaptation to changing environments. They find that in the presence of ARTs, extinction can be averted, as fixed ARTs facilitate evolutionary rescue. While we appreciate their research question and approach, we question the generality of this result. First, some of their conclusions hinge on the parameter values chosen. In their model, individuals express one of two reproductive tactics (fighting or sneaking) depending on whether their condition exceeds a given threshold. We demonstrate that their conclusions rely strongly on this threshold value. For high values (i.e., when most individuals sneak), they observe evolutionary rescue-however, for values lower than those explored in K&P, fixed ARTs do not impact extinction. When we allow the threshold to evolve, it evolves to take low values, indicating that when fixed ARTs are adaptive, they do not promote evolutionary rescue. Second, K&P assume that the sneaking strategy results in considerably lower mating success than the fighting strategy. We show that, if the average mating success of the sneaking strategy is increased, fixed ARTs again do not cause evolutionary rescue. Finally, we show that varying the degree of influx of variation or the inheritance process similarly breaks the association between fixed ARTs and evolutionary rescue. Overall, we agree with K&P that ARTs may influence evolutionary rescue, but possibly in different contexts than those considered in their manuscript. Thus, whether and how ARTs shape extinction risk remains an open question.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 2","pages":"147-151"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043900/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624384","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural crest cell biology shapes lizard skull evolution across evolutionary time scales.","authors":"Quentin Horta-Lacueva, Tobias Uller, Morris Flecks, Mariam Gabelaia, Christy Anna Hipsley, Martin Kirchner, Johannes Müller, Nathalie Feiner","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf050","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf050","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The vertebrate skull originates from two embryonic lineages, the mesoderm and the neural crest, offering a unique framework to study how developmental mechanisms connect phenotypic variation and evolutionary diversification. Using 3D geometric morphometrics, we analysed skull shape variation in lacertid lizards. Mesoderm- and neural crest-derived bones formed two distinct, conserved modules at both micro- and macroevolutionary scales. In the common wall lizard (<i>Podarcis muralis</i>), rapid evolution of skull shape under sexual selection was primarily driven by neural crest-derived bones. While the primary axis of shape divergence in <i>P. murali</i>s aligned with a major axis of variation across lacertids, neural crest-derived bones exhibited overall slower evolutionary rates and lower morphological disparity than mesodermal-derived bones. We propose that this discrepancy between the role of the neural crest for skull evolution on micro- and macroevolution reflects developmental bias imposed by neural crest cell biology. By enabling developmental coupling of skull shape, body colouration and behaviour, the neural crest cells can facilitate rapid, correlated responses under sexual selection but may limit long-term evolvability in the skull.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 2","pages":"152-164"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13043907/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147624442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Historical contingency limits adaptive diversification in a spatially structured environment.","authors":"Gillian E Patton, John C Meraz, Michelle Yin, Sarah B Worthan, Sara Williams, Megan G Behringer","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf048","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf048","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Understanding how genotype-by-environment (G × E) interactions influence evolutionary trajectories and contribute to historical contingency is key to predicting adaptation. In structured environments, populations often diversify into ecotypes. This specialization depends on ecological opportunity and also hinges on the adaptive landscape, as early beneficial mutations may restrict access to new niches unless alternative trajectories or compensatory mutations arise. Previous studies demonstrated that <i>Escherichia coli</i> populations rapidly diversify into two coexisting ecotypes in nutrient-rich, spatially structured environments, mediated by first-step mutations that upregulate type 1 fimbriae, a pilus involved in biofilm formation that enables surface colonization. Here, we investigated how first-step mutations shape evolutionary trajectories by experimentally evolving wild-type and fimbrial-deficient (Δ<i>fimA</i>) <i>E. coli</i> in structured and unstructured environments. In structured environments, <i>ΔfimA</i> initially confers a fitness benefit by eliminating the energetic cost of weak biofilm formation, but ultimately prevents range expansion, constraining adaptation relative to wild-type populations. In unstructured environments, where biofilms provide no advantage, both genotypes evolved similarly, with sequencing revealing parallel early mutational trajectories. Our findings provide one of the first experimental demonstrations that a single, clinically relevant first-step mutation in a non-essential gene can create an evolutionary \"dead end,\" constraining subsequent diversification. These results highlight the ruggedness of adaptive landscapes in structured environments and show how early beneficial mutations can trap lineages on local fitness peaks, underscoring the role of G × E interactions in shaping the predictability and contingency of evolution.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"118-134"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870851/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127107","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Common endosymbionts influence host sexual selection by shaping mating preferences via altered chemical communication.","authors":"Amir H Tourani, Alihan Katlav, James M Cook, John Hunt, Shawan Karan, Markus Riegler","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf044","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf044","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Maternally transmitted endosymbionts of arthropods are common and phylogenetically diverse. Several bacteria, including <i>Wolbachia</i> and <i>Cardinium</i>, have independently evolved the ability to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) limiting the reproduction in females lacking the endosymbionts carried by their mates. While promoting endosymbiont spread, CI is costly to endosymbiont-free females. Such host-endosymbiont conflicts are expected to affect host mating preferences, yet this has scarcely been studied in hosts carrying multiple, potentially competing, endosymbionts. We investigated mate choice and chemical communication in a significant pest of citrus, Kelly's citrus thrips (<i>Pezothrips kellyanus</i>), naturally carrying CI-inducing <i>Cardinium</i> and <i>Wolbachia</i>. Unlike females with both endosymbionts (CW) that had no preference for males with particular endosymbiont associations, females with only <i>Cardinium</i> (C) preferred compatible C and endosymbiont-free males over incompatible CW males. In contrast, endosymbiont-free females showed no preference, despite experiencing similar CI risks when facing incompatible C and CW males. Male mating success, however, mostly depended on female receptivity and not on endosymbiont association. Furthermore, chemical analyses revealed that males with different endosymbiont associations had distinctly different cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) profiles, with the CHC profile of CW males markedly including tridecane, a compound known to influence animal behavior. The results indicate that <i>Cardinium</i> enables females to avoid <i>Wolbachia</i>-induced CI based on the distinct chemical cues of incompatible males. Our findings highlight the role of common endosymbionts and their interactions in sexual selection through their effects on chemical and behavioral traits of hosts, emphasizing the importance of these factors in endosymbiont and host population dynamics, as well as endosymbiont-based pest control strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"77-90"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870845/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How relaxed preferences facilitate the evolution of novel animal signals.","authors":"Gabrielle T Welsh, James H Gallagher, Mary L Westwood, Vanessa Leon-Gamez, Lauren Bitner, Norman Lee, Robin M Tinghitella","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf047","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf047","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The evolution of novel animal signals is critical to the generation of biodiversity. Here, we explore how new sexual signals become established. This process is challenging to explain because if receiver preferences are coupled with existing signals, then most receivers should discriminate against new signals. We investigated an underappreciated hypothesis: relaxed receiver preferences facilitate novel signal evolution by allowing new signals to establish a foothold. Further, we probed the mechanistic underpinnings of relaxed preferences by combining field-based and common garden approaches, allowing us to investigate evolution and plasticity as mechanisms. We capitalized on the Pacific field cricket, <i>Teleogryllus oceanicus</i>, a species that has recently evolved multiple novel acoustic signals (e.g., purring and rattling) in response to an eavesdropping parasitoid fly only found in the crickets' introduced range in Hawaii. To test the hypothesis that selection associated with high search costs in introduced populations leads to relaxed mating preferences and determine whether such relaxation is plastic, we conducted sound preference (phonotaxis) trials with females from the cricket's native range (Australia and French Polynesia, where the fly is absent) and its introduced range (Hawaii, where the fly is present). We presented females with novel songs plus the typical, ancestral song. Differences in phonotactic behavior between the lab and field settings would indicate plasticity in preferences. We found that Australian and French Polynesian females were quite plastic; they discriminated strongly against most songs in the field, but were much more phonotactic to rattling and the typical song in the lab. However, Hawaiian females exhibited little plasticity and were consistently highly responsive to the rattling and typical songs in the lab and field. This pattern points to a loss of ancestral plasticity in female preferences sometime after colonizing Hawaii, resulting in heightened responsiveness to all songs-allowing novel signals to establish.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"104-117"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870860/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127142","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effects of sexual selection on functional and molecular reproductive divergence during experimental evolution in seed beetles.","authors":"Salomé Fromonteil, Alexandre Rêgo, Elina Immonen, Biljana Stojković, Uroš Savković, Mirko Đorđević, Johanna L Rönn, Göran Arnqvist","doi":"10.1093/evlett/qraf045","DOIUrl":"10.1093/evlett/qraf045","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sexual selection can be an engine of divergent evolution between closely related lineages, as a result of idiosyncratic coevolution of male and female reproductive traits. The possibility that this can contribute to speciation has ample support from comparative studies but very few experimental evolution studies have addressed the role of sexual selection in very early stages of divergent evolution. Here, we use experimental evolution to study divergent evolution between replicate lines of the seed beetle <i>Acanthoscelides obtectus</i> evolving under strong or weak sexual selection for >190 generations. We first confirm that the experimental regimes employed resulted in marked differences in the strength of sexual selection. We then indirectly assess the degree of divergent evolution of those male and female traits that affect postmating sexual selection, by crossing replicate lines. We find that lines evolving under strong sexual selection are more divergent in reproductive traits, as evidenced by a stronger male × female interaction for male sperm competition success. Finally, we assess the degree of divergent evolution in the expression of candidate genes for male seminal fluid proteins and female reproductive proteins. We find that lines evolving under strong sexual selection are more divergent in the expression of reproductive proteins, providing a possible causal mechanism contributing to the results seen in the reproductive phenotype. Our findings provide evidence for more divergent evolution of reproductive traits under stronger sexual selection, in line with the tenet that sexual selection may promote divergence even in the absence of environmental differences between populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":48629,"journal":{"name":"Evolution Letters","volume":"10 1","pages":"91-103"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12870844/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127116","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}