Behavioral and evolutionary causes of within-population assortative mating in threespine stickleback

三刺刺鱼种群内选型交配的行为和进化原因

• 批准号: 1145468
• 负责人: Daniel Bolnick
• 金额: $ 55.97万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1145468&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Behavioral; evolutionary; causes; within; population

Project description: Positive assortative mating occurs when individuals select mates who are more similar to themselves than expected by chance. A recent analysis of more than 1,000 case studies found that positive assortative mating is the rule rather than the exception within human and non-human animals. Positive assortative mating maintains genetic variation in populations, biases genetic mapping studies (e.g., to find disease-causing genes), and may drive the origin of new species. In light of the important genetic effects of assortative mating, it is surprising that little is known about its behavioral and evolutionary causes. The investigator will conduct experiments to test competing hypotheses as to why positive mating evolves. Specifically this study will (1) evaluate the frequency and strength of assortative mating within 20 populations of an important model organism (the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus), (2) identify the mate-choice behaviors that generate assortment, and (3) test whether assortment is favored by direct versus indirect selection, and/or disfavored by costs or barriers to signal transmission. Notably, this work provides the first field-based empirical test of the long-standing theory that disruptive natural selection favors positive assortative mating. This hypothesis, if true, would change our view about how new species arise.Broader significance: The project will improve our understanding of the causes and incidence of assortative mating. By focusing attention on this form of non-random mating, the work will increase awareness of the high frequency of assortment and therefore the need to account for non-random mating in genetic and association mapping studies in both evolutionary biology and medicine. In addition, the project will pair scientists with high-school biology teachers and pre-service teachers-in-training. This will give K-12 science teachers practical experience in biological research, and foster communication between scientists and current and future teachers.

项目描述：当个体偶然选择比预期更相似的配偶时，就会发生积极的选择性交配。最近一项对1,000多个案例研究的分析发现，在人类和非人类动物中，积极主动的交配是一种规则，而不是例外。积极的选择性交配维持了种群中的遗传变异，使遗传作图研究（例如，发现致病基因），并可能推动新物种的起源。鉴于选择性交配的重要遗传效应，令人惊讶的是，人们对其行为和进化原因知之甚少。研究人员将进行实验，以测试竞争的假设，为什么积极的交配进化。具体而言，本研究将（1）评估一种重要模式生物（三棘鱼，Gasterosteus aculeatus）的20个种群内的选择性交配的频率和强度，（2）确定产生分类的配偶选择行为，（3）测试分类是否受到直接选择和间接选择的青睐，和/或不受成本或信号传输障碍的青睐。值得注意的是，这项工作提供了第一个基于实地的经验测试的长期理论，破坏性的自然选择有利于积极的主动交配。如果这一假设成立，将改变我们对新物种如何产生的看法。更广泛的意义：该项目将提高我们对强迫交配的原因和发生率的理解。通过将注意力集中在这种形式的非随机交配上，这项工作将提高人们对高频率分类的认识，因此需要在进化生物学和医学的遗传和关联作图研究中考虑非随机交配。此外，该项目将使科学家与高中生物教师和职前培训教师结成对子。这将为K-12科学教师提供生物研究的实践经验，并促进科学家与现任和未来教师之间的沟通。