Evolution of Heliothis Moth Sexual Communication Systems

夜蛾性通讯系统的进化

• 批准号: 0515804
• 负责人: Fred Gould
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-09-15 至 2010-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0515804&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Evolution; Heliothis; Moth; Sexual; Communication

Most night-flying moth species locate mates through production of, and response to, a very exact blend of two or more odorous chemicals called pheromones. Females with atypical blends of the pheromones have been shown to be less attractive to males than females with the species common blend. Similarly, rare males that respond to atypical blends have been found to be at a disadvantage in finding mates. Evolutionary forces appear to be selecting against any change in the pheromone communication system. If evolutionary forces are indeed selecting against change then we are left with the question of how evolution could have resulted in the current existence of thousands of species of moths that have unique pheromones. The proposed research addresses this question by determining the genetic basis for control of pheromone production/response and uses genetic crosses to produce atypical females and males to determine if all alterations in the genes controlling these traits are selected against.There are many existing traits of organisms, like the moth pheromones, that require the combined action of a number of genes to function properly, and on the surface it appears as if evolutionary forces would not have favored their development. There is a need to genetically dissect some of these traits to experimentally examine how evolution may have acted on single components of these traits. The moth system will serve as a model for such an analysis. The moths studied are crop pests, so the knowledge gained from these studies will help in designing better mating disruption tools that control these pests.

大多数夜间飞行的蛾类通过产生和响应两种或更多种被称为信息素的气味化学物质的非常精确的混合物来定位配偶。具有非典型混合信息素的雌性对雄性的吸引力低于具有物种共同混合的雌性。同样，对非典型混合物有反应的罕见雄性在寻找配偶时处于不利地位。进化的力量似乎在选择反对信息素通信系统的任何变化。如果进化的力量确实在选择反对改变，那么我们就剩下一个问题：进化是如何导致成千上万种具有独特信息素的飞蛾的存在的。拟议的研究通过确定控制信息素产生/反应的遗传基础来解决这个问题，并使用遗传杂交产生非典型的雌性和雄性，以确定控制这些性状的基因中的所有改变是否都是选择性的。生物体的许多现有性状，如蛾信息素，需要许多基因的联合作用才能正常发挥作用，从表面上看，似乎进化的力量并不支持它们的发展。有必要从遗传学上剖析其中的一些特征，以实验方式研究进化如何作用于这些特征的单个组成部分。蛾系统将作为这种分析的模型。研究的蛾是作物害虫，因此从这些研究中获得的知识将有助于设计更好的交配中断工具来控制这些害虫。