For their eyes only
gerald wilkinson and his colleagues at the University of Maryland, usa, have discovered that the female-to-male ratio of the Cyrtodiopsis whitei flies is 2:1, contrary to the fact that the x and y chromosomes, responsible for deciding the sex of progeny, are equal in number. This means that there is an equal probability of producing male and female flies. However, this is not the case because in mechanism that still baffles the scientists, x -bearing sperms secrete to x in to kill the y -bearing sperm which would otherwise produce male population.
Studies have also suggested that y chromosomes posses an anti-to x in gene that counters the "attack' by the x -bearing sperms and after fertilisation leads to male progeny. Interestingly, these are the flies with long stalk-eyes, the apparent heart-throb of the females.
This link of resistant y chromosome and large eye stalks influences the e x pression of genes of female flies and with scarcity of the males, adult insects would frequently mate more often than the adult female insects.
In terms of evolutionary processes, this is very important as males with longer eye stalk get more mates and this facilitates in more of sons than daughters which are already in excess.
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