Does a Father's Social Environment Influence Their Sons' Sperm Sex Ratio? Potential for the Epigenetic Transmission of a Sex-allocating Mechanism

Does a Father's Social Environment Influence Their Sons' Sperm Sex Ratio? Potential for the Epigenetic Transmission of a Sex-allocating Mechanism | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL Ecology and Evolution This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 18 June 2025 V1 Latest version Share on Does a Father's Social Environment Influence Their Sons' Sperm Sex Ratio? Potential for the Epigenetic Transmission of a Sex-allocating Mechanism Authors : Renée Firman 0000-0001-9428-7388 [email protected] and Francisco Garcia-Gonzalez 0000-0001-9515-9038 Authors Info & Affiliations https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175025550.06131822/v1 Published Ecology and Evolution Version of record Peer review timeline 348 views 172 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract Recent investigations have demonstrated that males exposed to other males during development produce lower numbers of Y-chromosome bearing sperm. Despite the potential for legacy effects, the multigenerational implications of variation in the paternal social environment for the sperm sex ratio have not been investigated. Here, we exposed male house mice (fathers) to high-male or high-female density conditions during their sexual development and quantified the sperm sex ratio of their sons. Our analysis revealed that the sons of fathers reared under high-male density conditions, produced, on average, higher numbers of daughter-producing sperm compared to sons of fathers reared under high-female conditions. As environmental and genetic influences in sons were controlled for (common garden breeding and family-based design), this result can be attributed to nongenetic inheritance. Although our experiment produced a significant result, we acknowledge that further investigation with the application of a highly sensitive sperm sex ratio quantification method may produce a more robust outcome. Nevertheless, our investigation demonstrates the potential for the intergenerational transmission of the sperm sex ratio. We discuss mechanisms that could account for this result and discuss the intergenerational nature of the sperm sex ratio as an adaptive strategy for increasing paternal fitness within different social environments. Supplementary Material File (transgen_ssr_ms_updated.docx) Download 647.29 KB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 18 June 2025 Peer review timeline Published Ecology and Evolution Version of Record 26 Dec 2025 Published Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Collection Ecology and Evolution Keywords behavioral ecology ecological experiment terrestrial vertebrate Authors Affiliations Renée Firman 0000-0001-9428-7388 [email protected] University of Western Australia View all articles by this author Francisco Garcia-Gonzalez 0000-0001-9515-9038 Doñana Biological Station (CSIC) View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 348 views 172 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Renée Firman, Francisco Garcia-Gonzalez. Does a Father's Social Environment Influence Their Sons' Sperm Sex Ratio? Potential for the Epigenetic Transmission of a Sex-allocating Mechanism. Authorea . 18 June 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175025550.06131822/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. 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