TY - JOUR
T1 - Female Japanese quail visually differentiate testosterone-dependent male attractiveness for mating preferences
AU - Hiyama, Gen
AU - Mizushima, Shusei
AU - Matsuzaki, Mei
AU - Tobari, Yasuko
AU - Choi, Jae Hoon
AU - Ono, Takashi
AU - Tsudzuki, Masaoki
AU - Makino, Satoshi
AU - Tamiya, Gen
AU - Tsukahara, Naoki
AU - Sugita, Shoei
AU - Sasanami, Tomohiro
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Prof. N. Hirohashi (Shimane University) for critically reading our manuscript, Mr. T. Aoya, Mr. H. Yamamoto, Ms. M. Ikeno and Ms. K. Masamori for their technical assistance. We would like to thank Prof. N. Kansaku (Azabu University) and Prof T. Yoshimura (Nagoya University) for allowing us to use quail rearing apparatus and stereotaxic instrument, respectively. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (General) (17H03902 to TS) and a Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research (16K15022 to TS).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 The Author(s).
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Biased mating due to female preferences towards certain traits in males is a major mechanism driving sexual selection, and may constitute an important evolutionary force in organisms with sexual reproduction. In birds, although the role of male ornamentation, plumage coloration, genetic dissimilarity, and body size have on mate selection by females have been examined extensively, few studies have clarified exactly how these characteristics affect female mate preferences. Here, we show that testosterone (T)-dependent male attractiveness enhances female preference for males of a polygamous species, the Japanese quail. A significant positive correlation between female mating preference and circulating T in the male was observed. The cheek feathers of attractive males contained higher levels of melanin and were more brightly colored. The ability of females to distinguish attractive males from other males was negated when the light source was covered with a sharp cut filter (cutoff; < 640 nm). When females were maintained under short-day conditions, the expression of retinal red-sensitive opsin decreased dramatically and they became insensitive to male attractiveness. Our results showed that female preference in quail is strongly stimulated by male feather coloration in a T-dependent manner and that female birds develop a keen sense for this coloration due to upregulation of retinal red-sensitive opsin under breeding conditions.
AB - Biased mating due to female preferences towards certain traits in males is a major mechanism driving sexual selection, and may constitute an important evolutionary force in organisms with sexual reproduction. In birds, although the role of male ornamentation, plumage coloration, genetic dissimilarity, and body size have on mate selection by females have been examined extensively, few studies have clarified exactly how these characteristics affect female mate preferences. Here, we show that testosterone (T)-dependent male attractiveness enhances female preference for males of a polygamous species, the Japanese quail. A significant positive correlation between female mating preference and circulating T in the male was observed. The cheek feathers of attractive males contained higher levels of melanin and were more brightly colored. The ability of females to distinguish attractive males from other males was negated when the light source was covered with a sharp cut filter (cutoff; < 640 nm). When females were maintained under short-day conditions, the expression of retinal red-sensitive opsin decreased dramatically and they became insensitive to male attractiveness. Our results showed that female preference in quail is strongly stimulated by male feather coloration in a T-dependent manner and that female birds develop a keen sense for this coloration due to upregulation of retinal red-sensitive opsin under breeding conditions.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41598-018-28368-z
DO - 10.1038/s41598-018-28368-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 29968815
AN - SCOPUS:85049530679
VL - 8
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
SN - 2045-2322
IS - 1
M1 - 10012
ER -