Triploid asexual freshwater snails grow faster than sexual diploid conspecifics regardless of dietary phosphorus availability

Abstract

The number of chromosome sets per nucleus is a fundamental trait, but why this number is nearly always two for multicellular eukaryotes remains unclear. Chromosomes are made of nucleic acids, which possess abundant phosphorus (P). Therefore, producing new chromosomes, as well as generating new cells and organismal growth, demands substantial phosphorus. Yet, because P is often limiting in nature, P availability could influence the prevalence of diploidy versus polyploidy. Here, we compare growth rates of diploid and triploid Potamopyrgus antipodarum, a freshwater snail, relative to P availability. Because diploid P. antipodarum are obligately sexual while obligately asexual individuals are polyploid, costs associated with sensitivity to P limitation in polyploids could also help explain the maintenance of sexual P. antipodarum. We raised juvenile diploid and triploid snails on either P-adequate or P-deficient diets and found that independent of P availability, juvenile triploid asexual snails grew faster and harbored higher P content as adults than sexual diploid conspecifics. Together, these results suggest life-history advantages of polyploidy or asexual reproduction that exacerbate rather than ameliorate the cost of sex. These outcomes suggest that P availability is unlikely to be a main driver of ploidy polymorphism or the maintenance of sex in P. antipodarum.