Meiotic Drive and Sexual Selection in Diopsid Dipterans

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

0077878 Wilkinson This project aims to test the hypothesis that females choose ornamented males to alter the sex ratio of their progeny. Two species of stalk-eyed flies (family Diopsidae) that exhibit sexual dimorphism for eye stalk length and X-linked meiotic drive (i.e., sperm bearing Y-chromosomes fail to develop) will be used to test three predictions of this hypothesis. To determine the location of genes that influence eye span and meiotic drive, a quantitative trait locus (QTL) study will be conducted with arbitrary genetic markers. To determine how selection maintains meiotic drive in the population, the longevity of males and females, the fecundity of females, and sperm depletion by males that do or do not carry drive alleles will be compared. To determine if correlated evolution between eye span and drive has occurred, progeny sex ratio, male morphology and sperm development will be assayed for nine populations of flies recently captured from southeast Asia. This project is unique and important because it tests an explicit genetic mechanism for adaptive mate choice. In addition, a genetic linkage map for a non-standard model organism will be developed and may provide novel insights on genome evolution. Finally, comparison to other meiotic drive systems may reveal if sex chromosome transmission can be altered in multiple ways, thereby providing a potential biocontrol mechanism.