Effects of differential selection in the sexes on cytonuclear dynamics: Life stages with sex differences

Abstract

We extend our investigation of cytonuclear selection by determining when differential selection between the sexes will generate allele frequency changes or cytonuclear disequilibria in populations with constant viability selection and an adult census. We demonstrate analytically that there can be a cytonuclear hitchhiking effect upon a selectively neutral marker in either sex provided the other marker is selected in that sex and there is allelic disequilibrium between the loci in females. Cytonuclear disequilibria are generated de novo in both sexes when both loci affect fitness in females and there is a nonmultiplicative fitness interaction between them. Similar fitness interactions in males generate male disequilibria only. Through numerical analyses, we investigate the potential magnitude of such disequilibria, their qualitative dynamics, the expected frequency of detectable disequilibria under particular patterns or strengths of selection, and the possible disequilibrium sign patterns resulting from selection. These adult/viability results subsume those for populations with a gamete census and either constant fertility or viability selection. Although previous work suggests that the disequilibria generated by cytonuclear selection may be difficult to detect experimentally, this study shows that cytonuclear disequilibria at life stages with sex differences can be useful markers of the presence and strength of selection.