Db. Lank et al., Testosterone-induced male traits in female puffs (Philomachus pugnax): autosomal inheritance and gender differentiation, P ROY SOC B, 266(1435), 1999, pp. 2323-2330
Citations number
56
Categorie Soggetti
Experimental Biology
Journal title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON SERIES B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
A balanced polymorphism in male mating behaviour exists in male ruffs. with
no obvious parallel expression in females. Pedigree data of male phenotype
s support an autosomal model of inheritance, in contrast to sex-linked inhe
ritance patterns found in other taxa with sex-limited alternative mating st
rategy polymorphisms. We tested this model by inducing male courtship behav
iour in gonad-intact female ruffs, using subcutaneous testosterone implants
that produced physiological concentrations of testosterone. The implants r
apidly induced in females both types of male mating behaviour, an increase
in body mass typical of pre-breeding males, and the growth of normally male
-limited breeding plumage. As predicted under an autosomal model, the distr
ibutions of induced male behaviour types in females paralleled those of the
ir brothers and half-brothers, and were inconsistent with sex-linked models
. Effects were reversible, and experimental females bred normally in subseq
uent years. Our results show that genotype-specific male characteristics ca
n be induced by testosterone in female adults that have presumably not unde
rgone neural organization for them early in life, showing direct use of gen
etic information in intra- and intersexual differentiation.