Isn’t it great to know that at least half of your genome is a winner? This part of you won the race of the sperm to the egg cell. Regarding the genetic/epigenetic variation among the sperm of your father, this part of you was the fastest and robustest your father could produce. The question is, if this race between the haploid sperms of the same man, results in a sort of selection which is important for the Darwinian fitness. In other words: Does Darwin’s “The survival of the fittest” describe not only the selection among the diploid organisms but also the selection among the haploid sperm? And does this selection between the gamete phenotypes of the same man have a fitness consequence for the created offspring? Ghazal Alavioon et al. say “yes”. They selected zebrafish sperm for their longevity, and indeed, the offspring of this longevity sperm had a better survival rate and the sons which were created by longevity sperm produced significantly faster-swimming sperm compared to the sons of short living sperm. Also the fitness of the fertilized egg cell seems enhanced with longevity sperm compared to short living sperm. This fitness effect was still valid in the second generation. "Haploid selection within a single ejaculate increases offspring fitness."
Ghazal Alavioon, et al. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(2017): 201705601.
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