Paternal inheritance of the primary sex ratio in a copepod

Uniparentally inherited genetic elements are under strong selection to manipulate sex determination in their host and shift the host sex ratio towards the transmitting sex. For any sex-ratio trait, lineage analysis and quantitative genetics are important tools for characterizing the mode of inheritance (biparental vs. maternal vs. paternal) thereby narrowing the field of possible sex-determining mechanisms (e.g. polygenic, sex chromosomes with meiotic drive, cytoplasmic microorganisms). The primary sex ratio of the harpacticoid copepod, <i>Tigriopus californicus</i> is often male-biased and is highly variable among full sib families. We found that this extra-binomial variation for the primary sex ratio is paternally but not maternally transmitted in <i>T. californicus</i>. Paternal transmission of the primary sex ratio has been well documented in the haplo–diploid hymenoptera but is relatively rare in diplo–diploid organisms. If the sex-ratio trait is paternally transmitted in other closely related harpacticoid copepods it would explain why male biased primary sex ratios are so common in this group.