DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Polyandry in Crickets: Disentangling the Genetic Benefits

拟研究项目摘要题目：论文研究：蟋蟀的一妻多夫制：解开遗传利益的秘密首席研究员：Scott Kitchener sakalukco - Principal研究员：Tracie Marie ivy尽管交配通常是昂贵的，但许多物种的雌性会与多个伴侣进行多次交配，可能是因为雌性获得的收益大于成本。物质利益，如求偶食物礼物，直接提高了雌性的繁殖成功率，而遗传利益则通过后代的表现间接提高了雌性的繁殖成功率。最近对花蟋蟀的研究表明，交配多次的雌性蟋蟀比只交配一次的雌性蟋蟀能产生更多存活下来的后代，尤其是当雌性蟋蟀与多个伴侣交配时。此外，数据表明，后代存活率的提高是由于遗传而不是物质利益。本研究的目的是验证关于花蟋蟀滥交所获得的遗传利益的两个假设：1)后代的生存能力（或性吸引力）通过父系遗传基因得到增强；2)与多个伴侣交配的雌性增加了其卵与基因相容的雄性受精的可能性。这些假设将通过农业研究中经常使用的一种设计来检验，即完全双列杂交，它包括一组近交亲本系之间所有可能的杂交。如果滥交导致后代继承了高质量雄性的基因，我预测雌性将通过与特定雄性交配获得更高的适应性，而不管雌性的遗传背景如何。然而，如果遗传兼容性是最重要的，我预测雌性的适应性将由父系和母系基因之间的相互作用决定。了解哪一种遗传机制驱动雌性交配偏好对于理解动物交配系统的进化至关重要。

Abstract of Proposed Research Project Title: Dissertation Research: Polyandry in crickets: disentangling the genetic benefits Principal Investigator: Scott Kitchener SakalukCo-Principle Investigator: Tracie Marie IvyAlthough mating is often costly, females of many species mate multiple times and with multiple partners, presumably because females accrue benefits that outweigh the costs. Material benefits, such as courtship food gifts, directly increase a female's reproductive success, while genetic benefits indirectly improve a female's success through the performance of her offspring. Recent work involving decorated crickets indicates that females mating multiply produce significantly more surviving offspring than those mating only once, particularly when females mate with multiple partners. Moreover, the data suggest that the increase in offspring survival is due to genetic rather than material benefits. The object of the proposed research is to test two hypotheses regarding the nature of genetic benefits obtained via promiscuous mating in decorated crickets: 1) offspring viability (or sexual attractiveness) is enhanced through paternally-derived genes and 2) females mating with multiple partners increase the probability that their eggs will be fertilized by males with whom they are genetically compatible. These hypotheses will be tested by utilizing a design used frequently in agricultural research, the full diallel cross, which involves all possible crosses among a set of inbred parental lines. If promiscuous mating results in offspring inheriting genes from high-quality males, I predict that females will derive higher fitness by mating with certain males, irrespective of the genetic background of the female. However, if genetic compatibility is most important, I predict that female fitness will be determined by the interaction between paternal and maternal genes. Knowing which of these genetic mechanisms drives female mating preferences is critical to understanding the evolution of animal mating systems.