Mitochondrial DNA: A hand in mate harm evolution?

Abstract

Recent studies on Mitochondrial have disproved the traditional view of variation on mitochondrial genes to be neutral. It has been seen that mitochondrial and nuclear genes work in an intensive collaboration, where mitochondrial genome optimizes with nuclear genes for effective working of life processes such as respiration, oxidative phosphorylation and ATP production. These processes in turn affect the physical fitness and life histories of organisms. In the studies of sexual selection, the viewpoint of mitochondrial genome has been neglected. The study aimed at checking if mitochondrial genome has some effect on evolved mate harm ability of males. From studies in our lab, we already know that males of a male biased system cause more harm to females than the males of a female-biased system in Drosophila melanogaster. Our results are mixed across all replicates, which makes it hard to conclude if there is or not a part of mtDNA in mate harm evolution.