Table 1 Predictions on imprinting of the kinship, coadaptation and sexual antagonism theories

From: The evolution of genomic imprinting: theories, predictions and empirical tests

Taxon	Context/tissue	Kinship	Coadaptation	Sexual antagonism
Mammals, plants, angiosperms, other placental viviparous animals (e.g., some reptiles and fish)	Resource acquisition from mother (placenta, endosperm)	+Patrigene −matrigene	±Matrigene	^a
Birds, fish, monotremes, gymnosperms	Embryo, resource acquisition in egg	None	±Matrigene	None
Birds, fish	Resource acquisition from parent, post hatching	+Patrigene −matrigene	±Matrigene	^a
Sex-role-reversed birds or fish	Resource acquisition from father	−Patrigene +matrigene	±Patrigene	^a
Social insect workers	Queen–worker interactions; nervous tissue, sensory, communication	Variable^b	Variable^b	None
Moss	Sporophyte resource acquisition from gametophyte	+Patrigene −matrigene	±Matrigene	None
Insects	Sibling competition—mixed paternity broods	+Patrigene −matrigene	None in most species	^a
Many birds	Post-dispersal competition, females disperse	−Patrigene +matrigene	None	None
Many mammals	Post-dispersal competition, males disperse	+Patrigene −matrigene	None	+Patrigene −matrigene
Any sexually reproducing species	Male-function traits (e.g., secondary sexual traits, including high growth rate^a)	None	None	+Patrigene −matrigene
Any sexually reproducing species	Female-function traits (e.g., metabolic pathways and behaviors involved in offspring production, crypsis adaptations)	None	None	−Patrigene +matrigene
Hermaphrodite plants, fish	Male traits	None	None	+Patrigene −matrigene
Hermaphrodite plants, fish	Female traits	None	None	−Patrigene +matrigene
Species with female multiple mating	Cooperative breeding and resource sharing between maternal siblings	−Patrigene +matrigene	None	None
Species with female defense or harem polygyny	Cooperative breeding and resource sharing between paternal siblings	+Patrigene −matrigene	None	None
Species with male-biased juvenile dispersal	Cooperative breeding and resource sharing between neighbors	−Patrigene +matrigene	None	None
Species with male-biased reproductive skew	Cooperative breeding and resource sharing between neighbors	+Patrigene −matrigene	None	None

The + and − indicate whether a gene is expected to increase or decrease the trait listed in the context/tissue column. ‘None’ indicates that no imprinting is generally expected in the absence of pleiotropy (side effects of imprinting for another context). (Brandvain et al. (2011) present a table with similar predictions).
^aNote that if sexual selection favors large body size in males (as is the case in many mammals, and some other taxa), then male embryos and neonates may be selected to extract maternal resources at a greater rate than their sisters. In this case, the sexual antagonism model has somewhat overlapping predictions with the kinship theory. For example, if sexually dimorphic imprinting is not possible, then the sexual antagonism theory would predict paternal expression and maternal silencing of genes that regulate growth rate.
^bMany different predictions for the kinship theory (Queller, 2003). For the maternal–offspring coadaptation theory, the prediction is ‘± matrigene’, but an analogous parallel worker–worker coadaptation theory would be ‘±patrigene’ for singly mated haplodiploid species where workers are more related through patrigenes and ‘±matrigene’ for multiply mated.

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Table 1 Predictions on imprinting of the kinship, coadaptation and sexual antagonism theories

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