In mammals, sexual size dimorphism often reflects the intensity of sexual selection, yet its connection to genomic evolution remains unexplored. Gene family size evolution can reflect shifts in the relative importance of different molecular functions. Here, we investigate the associate between brain development gene repertoire to sexual size dimorphism using 124 mammalian species. We reveal significant changes in gene family size associations with sexual size dimorphism. High levels of dimorphism correlate with an expansion of gene families enriched in olfactory sensory perception and a contraction of gene families associated with brain development functions, many of which exhibited particularly high expression in the human adult brain. These findings suggest a relationship between intense sexual selection and alterations in gene family size. These insights illustrate the complex interplay between sexual dimorphism, gene family size evolution, and their roles in mammalian brain development and function, offering a valuable understanding of mammalian genome evolution.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50386-x | DOI Listing |
Behav Processes
January 2025
Laboratory of Sensory Ecology, Department of Physiology & Behavior, Biosciences Center, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal-RN, Brazil. Electronic address:
The selection and expression of conspicuous colorations in animals is often related to anti-predation strategies and sociosexual communication. The giant river prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man, 1879) is a species with three male morphotypes that vary in claws' coloration and the size of the animals. It has been suggested that male reproductive quality might be associated to their coloration, but evidence is still conflicting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHum Reprod
January 2025
Clinical Experimental Center, Jiangmen Engineering Technology Research Center of Clinical Biobank and Translational Research, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, China.
Study Question: What is the prevalence and trend of infertility among individuals of childbearing age at global, regional, and national levels by sex and socio-demographic index (SDI) across 21 regions and 204 countries and territories?
Summary Answer: Our findings reveal a growing prevalence of infertility among individuals aged 15-49 years worldwide from 1990 to 2021, with an expected continued increase through 2040.
What Is Known Already: Infertility is a persistent global reproductive health issue, leading to significant societal and health consequences. No study has specifically described the current prevalence of infertility, its secular trend, or the variations between regions or countries with different SDI levels.
Brain Behav Immun Integr
December 2024
Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States.
Maternal immune activation (MIA), a maternal stressor, increases risk for neuropsychiatric diseases, such as Major Depressive Disorder in offspring. MIA of toll-like receptor 7 (TLR7) initiates an immune response in mother and fetuses in a sex-selective manner. The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), a brain region that is sexually dimorphic and regulates hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress responses, have been tied to stress-related behaviors (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEvol Anthropol
March 2025
Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.
Sexual dimorphism is one of the main factors confounding attempts to generate sound alpha taxonomic hypotheses in the early hominin fossil record. To better understand how between-sex variation may confound alpha taxonomic assessments, we consider some of the factors that drive hard-tissue sexual dimorphism in extant primates. We review the socioecological correlates of body size sexual dimorphism, how sexual selection may be associated with craniofacial sexual dimorphism in the context of visual signaling, and how sex-specific patterns of growth and development in primates contribute to intra-specific variation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAIDS Behav
December 2024
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Due to limited data on the determinants of HIV care continuum outcomes among people living with HIV (PLWH) in resource-limited settings, this study aimed to identify individual and social support network factors influencing these outcomes, thereby informing the development of intervention strategies to achieve the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets. PLWH in Yunnan, China, were recruited using convenience sampling at three stages of the HIV care continuum: linkage to care, antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, and viral suppression. An egocentric network design combined with multilevel logit modeling was employed to investigate factors associated with ART initiation and viral suppression.
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