---
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: hybrid
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '20330'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: The evolution of sexual dimorphism (the difference in average trait values
between females and males, SD), is often thought to be constrained by shared genetic
architecture between the sexes. Indeed, it is commonly expected that SD should
negatively correlate with the intersex correlation (the genetic correlation between
effects of segregating variants in females and males, r fm), either because (1)
traits with ancestrally low r fm are less constrained in their ability to respond
to sex-specific selection and thus evolve to be more dimorphic, or because (2)
sex-specific selection, driving sexual dimorphism evolution, also acts to reduce
r fm. Despite the intuitive appeal and prominence of these ideas, their generality
and the conditions in which they hold remain unclear. Here, we develop models
incorporating sex-specific stabilizing selection, mutation and genetic drift to
examine the relationship between r fm and SD. We show that the two commonly-discussed
mechanisms with the potential to generate a negative correlation between SD and
r fm could just as easily generate a positive association, since the standard
line of reasoning hinges on a hidden assumption that sex-specific adaptation more
frequently favors increased dimorphism than reduced dimorphism. Our results provide,
to our knowledge, the first mechanistic framework for understanding the conditions
under which a correlation between r fm and SD may arise and offer a compelling
explanation for inconsistent empirical evidence. We also make the intriguing observation
that—even when selection between the two sexes is identical—drift generates nonzero
SD. We quantify this effect and discuss its significance.
acknowledgement: We thank Tim Connallon for useful discussions and correspondence,
Himani Sachdeva and Nick Barton for comments on the manuscript and the Scientific
Computing unit at ISTA for technical support. GP is the recipient of a DOC Fellowship
of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria
(DOC 25817) and received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant (agreement no. 665385).
LH received funding from the European Research Council, under the HaplotypeStructure
Grant (grant no. 101055327) to Nick Barton.
article_number: iyaf175
article_processing_charge: Yes (via OA deal)
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Gemma
full_name: Puixeu Sala, Gemma
id: 33AB266C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
last_name: Puixeu Sala
orcid: 0000-0001-8330-1754
- first_name: Laura
full_name: Hayward, Laura
id: fc885ee5-24bf-11eb-ad7b-bcc5104c0c1b
last_name: Hayward
citation:
ama: 'Puixeu Sala G, Hayward L. The relationship between sexual dimorphism and intersex
correlation: Do models support intuition? Genetics. 2025;231(3). doi:10.1093/genetics/iyaf175'
apa: 'Puixeu Sala, G., & Hayward, L. (2025). The relationship between sexual
dimorphism and intersex correlation: Do models support intuition? Genetics.
Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf175'
chicago: 'Puixeu Sala, Gemma, and Laura Hayward. “The Relationship between Sexual
Dimorphism and Intersex Correlation: Do Models Support Intuition?” Genetics.
Oxford University Press, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf175.'
ieee: 'G. Puixeu Sala and L. Hayward, “The relationship between sexual dimorphism
and intersex correlation: Do models support intuition?,” Genetics, vol.
231, no. 3. Oxford University Press, 2025.'
ista: 'Puixeu Sala G, Hayward L. 2025. The relationship between sexual dimorphism
and intersex correlation: Do models support intuition? Genetics. 231(3), iyaf175.'
mla: 'Puixeu Sala, Gemma, and Laura Hayward. “The Relationship between Sexual Dimorphism
and Intersex Correlation: Do Models Support Intuition?” Genetics, vol.
231, no. 3, iyaf175, Oxford University Press, 2025, doi:10.1093/genetics/iyaf175.'
short: G. Puixeu Sala, L. Hayward, Genetics 231 (2025).
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-09-10T05:48:04Z
date_published: 2025-11-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-01-05T13:04:07Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '570'
department:
- _id: BeVi
- _id: NiBa
doi: 10.1093/genetics/iyaf175
ec_funded: 1
external_id:
isi:
- '001598595000001'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: bbb73bbf8617812d4d8db4af92be9538
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2026-01-05T13:03:18Z
date_updated: 2026-01-05T13:03:18Z
file_id: '20946'
file_name: 2025_Genetics_Puixeu.pdf
file_size: 1550562
relation: main_file
success: 1
file_date_updated: 2026-01-05T13:03:18Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 231'
isi: 1
issue: '3'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '11'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
project:
- _id: 9B9DFC9E-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A
grant_number: '25817'
name: 'Sexual conflict: resolution, constraints and biomedical implications'
- _id: 2564DBCA-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425
call_identifier: H2020
grant_number: '665385'
name: International IST Doctoral Program
- _id: bd6958e0-d553-11ed-ba76-86eba6a76c00
grant_number: '101055327'
name: Understanding the evolution of continuous genomes
publication: Genetics
publication_identifier:
issn:
- 1943-2631
publication_status: published
publisher: Oxford University Press
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: 'The relationship between sexual dimorphism and intersex correlation: Do models
support intuition?'
tmp:
image: /images/cc_by.png
legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 231
year: '2025'
...