Genomic imprinting and sex allocation

Genomic imprinting allows maternally and paternally derived alleles to have different patterns of expression (one allele is often silent). Kin selection provides an explanation of genomic imprinting because conflicts of interest can arise between paternally and maternally inherited alleles when they have different probabilities of being present in other individuals. Our aim here is to examine the extent to which conflicts between paternally and maternally inherited alleles could arise over the allocation of resources to make male and female reproduction (sex allocation), for example, conflict over the offspring sex ratio. We examine the situations in which sex allocation is influenced by competitive or cooperative interactions between relatives: local resource competition, local mate competition, and local resource enhancement. We determine solutions for diploids and haplodiploids when either the mother or the offspring controls sex allocation. Our results suggest that the greatest conflict between paternally and maternally inherited alleles and therefore the strongest selection for genomic imprinting will occur in haplodiploid species where the offspring can control sex allocation, such as the social hymenoptera, we expect especially strong selection for genomic imprinting in species subject to local resource competition, such as honeybees and army ants.Citation: Wild, G. & West, S. A. (2009). 'Genomic imprinting and sex allocation', American Naturalist, 173(1), E1-E14. [Available at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/an/current]. © 2009 by The University of Chicago. N.B. Prof West is now based at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford