More gene wars

Gadagkar, Raghavendra (1991) More gene wars. In: Current Science, 61 (12). p. 795.

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Abstract

In the otherwise fasinating article 'Gene wars' by Uma Shaanker and Ganeshaiah, there is an incorrect statement. The authors state, "... the interest of the offspring is not similar to that of the mother as long as they are sired by more than one father; selection acts on each offspring favouring increase in the offspring's own fitness by demanding more than the mother is selected to give [italics mine]. In sexually reproducing diploid organisms no two siblings (even full siblings) other than identical twins are identical in all 100 percent of their genes. The average coefficient of their genes. The average coefficient of genetic relatedness between full siblings (from the same father and the same mother) under outbreeding is 0.5. The Interests of the mother (who is related equally to all her offspring) will therefore not be similar to that of her offspring because each offspring is related to itself by 1.0 and by no more 0.5 even to its full sublings. Thus even when the offsprings are sired by the same father, selection should act on them to demand more from their mother than she is selected to give. This should of course make gene wars even more common.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Current Science
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to Indian Academy of Sciences.
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	11 Dec 2006
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2010 04:32
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/8764

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