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Equilibrium and Extinction in a Trisexual Diploid Mating System: An Investigation
Erik C. Buehler1, Sanjoy Das1, and Jack F. Cully, Jr.2
1Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
mrbuehler@mailcircuit.com
sdas@ksu.edu
2Kansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66504
bcully@ksu.edu
Abstract. In order to study the dynamics of a three-sex (trisexual) mating system, we have chosen to extend the heterogametic sex-determining mechanism, used in many species, to include three sexes: XX, XY and YY. In this model, non-like types may mate, but like-types may not mate. Yeasts and fungi are known to have multiple mating types (sometimes numbering in the thousands), but the mechanics of these sex-determining systems are markedly different from the heterogametic system we are interested in studying [5]. Our motivation for using this scheme stems from the knowledge that in some species, such as most fish, XX is female, and XY is male [1]. Under certain conditions, a YY individual may be produced, and in the case of fish, this usually develops into a male. Our goal is to discover the emergent behavior of a hypothetical “diploid trisexual mating system” (DTMS) where the YY type is its own distinct “mating type”, in order to shed light on why such a system is not observed in nature today.
LNCS 3102, p. 495 f.
lncs@springer.de
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2004