Sensory Exploitation and Epigamic Selection

摘要 PI：Sakaluk提案编号：9601042 昆虫作为疾病生物体的媒介、储藏产品和农作物的害虫以及植物的授粉者，对人类的状况产生了深远的影响。 昆虫生物学的一个重要方面是它们对新的环境挑战做出遗传反应的能力，无论是自然的还是人为的（例如，杀虫剂）。 这种能力部分取决于各种物种的雌性在多大程度上保持对配子转移和使用的控制，从而影响其后代的父系和遗传组成。 但是，雄性昆虫的哪些特征会影响雌性昆虫的这种神秘选择过程，以及后代如何从其特定的遗传禀赋中受益：该提案旨在了解雌性昆虫生殖生理和行为的那些方面，这些方面导致后代的生存和健康增加。 虽然这些生殖过程的理解有明显的管理和控制昆虫的实际后果，他们也解决了重要的生物学假设，男性特征和女性生殖过程的共存。 一种假说认为，某些男性特征的出现是因为它们利用了女性内在的感官偏见。 另一个与之竞争的假说认为，男性特征的出现是因为它们准确地反映了男性的基因构成。 这些假设将通过女性感官构成的实验开发进行测试。 这些假设将通过对女性感官能力的实验利用进行测试，并通过检查女性的繁殖成功率，这些女性的后代由不同的男性所生，因此在遗传组成上有所不同。

ABSTRACT PI: Sakaluk Proposal Number: 9601042 Insects have a profound impact on the human condition as vectors of disease organisms, pests of stored products and agricultural crops, and pollinators of plants. An important facet of the biology of insects that accounts for their remarkable abundance and diversity is their ability to respond genetically to novel environmental challenges, be they natural or man made (e.g., pesticides). This ability is predicated in part on the extent to which females of a wide variety of species retain control of gamete transfer and usage, and thereby influence the paternity and genetic makeup of their offspring. But what characteristics of males influence this cryptic selection process by female insects, and how do offspring benefit from their particular genetic endowments: The proposal seeks to understand those aspects of the reproductive physiology and behavior of female insects that leads to increased survival and fitness of offspring. Although an understanding of these reproductive processes has obvious practical ramifications for the management and control of insects, they also address important biological hypotheses concerning the coexistence of male traits and female reproductive processes. One hypothesis proposes that certain male traits arise because they exploit built-in sensory biases of females. A competing hypothesis suggests that male traits arise because they accurately signal a male's genetic makeup. These hypotheses will be tested through experimental exploitation of female sensory makeup. These hypotheses will be tested through experimental exploitation of female sensory capabilities, and by examining the reproductive success of females whose offspring have been sired by different males and hence, differ in their genetic makeup.