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Testosterone increases bioavailability of carotenoids: Insights into the honesty of sexual signaling

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dc.creator Blas, Julio
dc.creator Pérez-Rodríguez, Lorenzo
dc.creator Bortolotti, Gary R.
dc.creator Viñuela, Javier
dc.creator Marchant, Tracy A.
dc.date 2008-01-28T19:26:26Z
dc.date 2008-01-28T19:26:26Z
dc.date 2006-12-05
dc.date.accessioned 2017-01-31T00:59:50Z
dc.date.available 2017-01-31T00:59:50Z
dc.identifier Blas, J., L. Pérez-Rodríguez, G. Bortolotti, et al. 2006, Testosterone increases bioavailability of carotenoids: Insights into the honesty of sexual signaling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 103(49), 18633-18637.
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/10261/2749
dc.identifier 10.1073/pnas.0609189103
dc.identifier.uri http://dspace.mediu.edu.my:8181/xmlui/handle/10261/2749
dc.description Androgens and carotenoids play a fundamental role in the expression of secondary sex traits in animals that communicate information on individual quality. In birds, androgens regulate song, aggression, and a variety of sexual ornaments and displays, whereas carotenoids are responsible for the red, yellow, and orange colors of the integument. Parallel, but independent, research lines suggest that the evolutionary stability of each signaling system stems from tradeoffs with immune function: androgens can be immunosuppressive, and carotenoids diverted to coloration prevent their use as immunostimulants. Despite strong similarities in the patterns of sex, age and seasonal variation, social function, and proximate control, there has been little success at integrating potential links between the two signaling systems. These parallel patterns led us to hypothesize that testosterone increases the bioavailability of circulating carotenoids. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated testosterone levels of red-legged partridges Alectoris rufa while monitoring carotenoids, color, and immune function. Testosterone treatment increased the concentration of carotenoids in plasma and liver by >20%. Plasma carotenoids were in turn responsible for individual differences in coloration and immune response. Our results provide experimental evidence for a link between testosterone levels and immunoenhancing carotenoids that (i) reconciles conflicting evidence for the immunosuppressive nature of androgens, (ii) provides physiological grounds for a connection between two of the main signaling systems in animals, (iii) explains how these signaling systems can be evolutionary stable and honest, and (iv) may explain the high prevalence of sexual dimorphism in carotenoid-based coloration in animals.
dc.description J.B. was supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia and the Isabel María López Martínez Memorial Scholarship. L.P-R. was supported by a predoctoral grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia. Financial support was provided by the Research Project PAI-02-006 of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (J.V.) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (G.R.B.).
dc.description Peer reviewed
dc.format 514715 bytes
dc.format application/pdf
dc.language eng
dc.publisher National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
dc.relation http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0609189103
dc.rights openAccess
dc.subject Honest signaling
dc.subject Immune function
dc.subject Immunocompetence handicap hypothesis
dc.subject Coloration
dc.subject Carotenoids
dc.subject Androgens
dc.subject Sexual selection
dc.subject Communication
dc.subject Testosterone
dc.title Testosterone increases bioavailability of carotenoids: Insights into the honesty of sexual signaling
dc.type Artículo


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