Collaborative Research: Postmating Reproductive Isolation Among Drosophila arizonae and Drosophila mojavensis

合作研究：亚利桑那果蝇和莫哈文西斯果蝇的交配后生殖隔离

• 批准号: 0075312
• 负责人: Therese Markow
• 金额: $ 12.69万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-09-01 至 2003-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0075312&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Postmating; Reproductive; Isolation

0075312 MarkowThe crucial event for the origin of new species is the formation of reproductive isolation. How one species splits into two reproductively isolated groups of organisms, however, is poorly understood. Fruitflies of the genus Drosophila have been a model system for studies of speciation. These studies have focused on premating or postzygotic isolating mechanisms, or those processes that determine whether or not males and females mate and whether or not they produce viable and fertile offspring, respectively. The multitude of events occurring between insemination and egg fertilization has been largely ignored in studies of speciation. Recent work, however, indicates that sperm, seminal fluid, and female reproductive tract characteristics that are of central importance for successful reproduction are rapidly divergent. The investigators postulate that this divergence will cause diminished reproductive success whenever members of genetically differentiated populations interbreed, and they propose a series of experiments to explicitly test this hypothesis using D. arizonae and its sibling species D. mojavensis, both endemic to North America. Because D. mojavensis from different geographic regions are considered to be incipient species, the investigators will take advantage of a naturally occurring continuum of reproductive isolation for testing their predictions. Preliminary data indicate that populations of D. mojavensis differ significantly in the traits to be measured. By conducting laboratory crosses between members of different populations and species with known reproductive characteristics, the investigators will determine how these characteristics lead to reproductive barriers central to the formation of new species. Results of these experiments may have important implications for the formation of new species.

0075312 Markow 新物种起源的关键事件是生殖隔离的形成。 然而，人们对一个物种如何分裂成两个生殖隔离的生物体群体却知之甚少。 果蝇属的果蝇一直是物种形成研究的模型系统。 这些研究重点关注交配前或合子后的隔离机制，或者分别决定雄性和雌性是否交配以及它们是否产生可存活和可育后代的过程。 在物种形成研究中，授精和卵子受精之间发生的众多事件在很大程度上被忽略了。 然而，最近的研究表明，对于成功繁殖至关重要的精子、精液和女性生殖道特征正在迅速分化。 研究人员推测，每当基因分化种群的成员进行杂交时，这种差异就会导致繁殖成功率下降，他们提出了一系列实验，使用北美特有的亚利桑那种 D. arizonae 及其兄弟物种 D. mojavensis 来明确检验这一假设。 由于来自不同地理区域的 D. mojavensis 被认为是早期物种，因此研究人员将利用自然发生的连续生殖隔离来测试他们的预测。 初步数据表明，D. mojavensis 种群在待测量的性状方面存在显着差异。 通过在具有已知生殖特征的不同种群和物种的成员之间进行实验室杂交，研究人员将确定这些特征如何导致对新物种形成至关重要的生殖障碍。 这些实验的结果可能对新物种的形成具有重要意义。