Semiochemical compounds of preen secretion reflect genetic make-up in a seabird species

Abstract

Several vertebrates choose their mate according to genetic heterozygosity and relatedness, and use odour cues to assess their conspecifics' genetic make-up. In birds, although several species (including the blacklegged kittiwake) exhibit non-random mating according to genetic traits, the cues used to assess genetic characteristics remain unknown. The importance of olfaction in birds' social behaviour is gaining attention among researchers, and it has been suggested that, as in other vertebrates, bird body scent may convey information about genetic traits. Here, we combined gas chromatography data and genetic analyses at microsatellite loci to test whether semiochemical messages in preen secretion of kittiwakes carried information about genetic heterozygosity and relatedness. Semiochemical profile was correlated with heterozygosity in males and females, while semiochemical distance was correlated with genetic distance only in male -male dyads. Our study is the first to demonstrate a link between odour and genetics in birds, which sets the stage for the existence of sophisticated odour-based mechanisms of mate choice also in birds.

Chemical fingerprints encode mother–offspring similarity, colony membership, relatedness, and genetic quality in fur seals

“…The only study of a free-ranging, natural population to have detected an association with genotype used PCA to reduce the dimensionality of the chemical data (9). However, this approach is not ideally suited to detecting such signals because a principal component that explains maximal variance may not necessarily provide an optimal representation of the underlying genotype.…”

“…Experimental studies have shown that females of several species are capable of discriminating potential partners based on olfactory cues (3)(4)(5). However, very few studies have demonstrated a convincing link between the molecular composition of chemical fingerprints and genetic traits, such as heterozygosity (a measure of genetic quality) and relatedness (6)(7)(8)(9). These studies were almost exclusively conducted on a captive population of lemurs, a species known for its conspicuous use of scent marking.…”

“…In arguably the only study to report a convincing link between chemical fingerprints and genotype in a natural vertebrate population, Leclaire et al (9) used principle component analysis (PCA) to reduce chemical complexity. The authors identified a principle component in kittiwakes that correlated significantly with heterozygosity in both sexes and another that correlated with relatedness, but only in adult males.…”

Use of molecular genetics for understanding seabird evolution, ecology and conservation

“…Torres et al 2011), sociochemical compounds (e.g. Leclaire et al 2012), sex-specific foraging behaviour (e.g. Weimerskirch et al 2006), disease transmission (e.g.…”

Blue petrels recognize the odor of their egg

“…In birds, individual odors are thought to originate mainly from preen gland secretions (Mardon et al, 2011) that are spread onto the plumage during preening. These secretions encode information on bird species, identity, sex and kinship (Leclaire et al, 2012;Mardon et al, 2010;Whittaker et al, 2010), and can be transferred from the parent to the egg through passive or active spreading (Martín-Vivaldi et al, 2014). Because in several avian species individuals assess preen oil odor to discriminate between conspecifics (Amo et al, 2012a;Coffin et al, 2011;Whittaker et al, 2011), they could also be able to discriminate their own eggs from other eggs using olfactory cues.…”