Digest: No conflict of interest between the sexes for optimal immune response in threespine stickleback

Will sex-specificparasite exposure lead to sexually antagonistic immune trait fitness optima? Despite female stickleback encountering parasites at a higher rate, De Lisle and Bolnick found no evidence of sexual conflict related to their primary immune trait. Both male and female fish suffered high costs of infection and immune response on reproduction. If costs of both immunity and infection are high and concordant, the sexual conflict will not arise despite different parasite exposure rates.

Automated summary

Despite females stickleback encountering parasites at a higher rate, the study found that both male and female fish suffered high costs of infection and immune response, leading to the absence of sexual conflict despite different parasite exposure rates.