U.S.-Canada Colloborative Research: Dissecting behavioral isolation in nature: mate choice and the among-population divergence of signal traits and mate preferences

在这个国际合作项目中，来自美国和加拿大的研究人员将进行实验，研究表皮碳氢化合物（CHC）在物种识别中的作用，以及两种密切相关的食用蘑菇的果蝇（Drosophila subquinaria和Drosophila recens）之间的边界维持。 男性接触信息素包括一套CHCs，初步数据表明，这两个物种之间的差异。 三个具体的目标将追求测试的假设，男性CHCs是关键的信号特征，用于女性在择偶和物种歧视的基础，这些特征和女性对他们的偏好已经分化的人口之间的响应，以加强选择产生的其他物种的存在。 这些研究的结果将为一个长期的合作研究项目奠定基础，该项目将揭示行为是如何分化的，从而产生生殖隔离并最终形成物种。对雄性信号和雌性偏好的了解将为关于物种内与物种间雌性歧视的遗传基础是否相同的假设提供信息，以及我们在基因水平上对这些特征的期望是简单还是复杂。 雌性歧视的遗传基础和物种分化的进化基因组学在这些苍蝇物种可能更普遍适用于生殖隔离的行为，生态和遗传学的理解。 这些数据资源将提供给社区。 该项目将为美国和加拿大的早期职业研究人员提供长期合作的机会，并将涉及对两个实验室的学生进行培训，包括妇女和少数民族。 组织的一个主要目标是让初级研究人员，特别是来自在科学领域代表性不足的群体的研究人员参与国际合作活动。

In this international collaborative project researchers from U.S. and Canada will perform experiments to study the role of cuticular hydrocarbons (CHC) in species recognition and the maintenance of boundaries between two closely related species of mushroom-feeding flies, Drosophila subquinaria and Drosophila recens. Male contact pheromones consist of a suite of CHCs, and preliminary data suggests that these differ between the two species. Three specific aims will be pursued to test the hypothesis that male CHCs are the key signal traits that are used by females during mate choice and that underlie species discrimination, and that these traits and the female preferences for them have diverged among populations in response to reinforcing selection generated by the presence of the other species. The results of these studies will lay the groundwork for a long-term collaborative research program that will shed light on how behaviors diverge to generate reproductive isolation and ultimately speciation.Knowledge of the male signals and female preferences will inform hypotheses about whether the genetic basis of within vs. between species female discrimination is the same, and how simple vs. complex we expect these traits to be at the genetic level. The genetic basis of female discrimination and evolutionary genomics of species differentiation in these fly species might be more generally applicable to an understanding of the behavior, ecology, and genetics of reproductive isolation. The data resources will be made available to the community. This project will provide the opportunity to develop a long-term collaboration between early career researchers in the U.S. and Canada and will involve training of students in both laboratories, including women and ethnic minorities. Involvement of junior researchers, especially from groups underrepresented in science, in collaborative international activities is a major goal of OISE.