Experimental Evolution of Insect Nuptial Food Gifts and Female Responses

昆虫作为农业害虫和疾病传播者对社会产生了巨大的经济影响，其消极作用是作为农业害虫和疾病传播者，积极作用是作为多种农产品的重要传粉者。它们快速而大量的繁殖能力扩大了它们的影响力，这是由每只雌性能产生的后代数量决定的。雌性在生殖方面的差异部分是由雄性控制的，雄性可以通过传递化学物质来操纵雌性，这些化学物质会在交配期间影响雌性的生理和接受能力。该项目涉及基础研究，以确定男性传递的影响女性交配行为的化学物质、潜在基因，以及女性保护自己免受这些物质侵害的机制。这些研究可能会导致抑制雌性繁殖的产品，并可用于安全有效的昆虫生物控制。该项目还将通过支持本科生、研究生和博士后，为培养下一代科学家做出贡献。这些学生将通过科学奖学金传播他们的工作，并将参与以公众对昆虫的迷恋为中心的社区外展项目。这些活动包括培养小学生对科学的兴趣，以及通过向高中教师提供研究昆虫的资源来提高科学素养。婚礼食物礼物是雄性给雌性的食物，是各种昆虫交配系统的一个组成部分。在有装饰的蟋蟀中，结婚的食物礼物是以精鞘的形式出现的，这是一种凝胶状的物质，是雄性精子包囊的一部分，被雌性吃掉。虽然结婚礼物通过最大化精子转移来提高男性的适应性利益，但其对女性适应性的影响尚不清楚。研究人员将利用实验进化来探索雄性和雌性目标的冲突在推动雄性蟋蟀结婚礼物的化学成分进化和雌性对这些礼物的反应中的作用。具体来说，它们将通过控制复制种群中雄性和雌性的比例来改变选择和冲突的强度，然后同时监测雄性和雌性的进化反应。他们将使用气相色谱法和质谱法来追踪精子鞘游离氨基酸谱的进化变化，并针对基因表达来评估关键基因的变化。雌性的进化反应将通过行为分析来评估礼物的味觉吸引力，并使用比较转录组学方法来表征来自不同选择系的雌性大脑和肠道组织中的差异基因表达。通过将强大的实验进化设计与最先进的功能基因组学相结合，他们旨在为选择和冲突如何促进昆虫广泛生殖适应的进化提供最全面的检查之一。

Insects have an enormous economic impact on society, negatively through their roles as agricultural pests and transmitters of disease, and positively as critical pollinators of a wide range of agricultural products. Their influence is amplified by their ability to reproduce rapidly and in great numbers, which is determined by the number of offspring each female can produce. Differences between females in their reproduction is partially controlled by males, who can manipulate females by transferring chemicals that influence their physiology and receptivity during mating. This project involves fundamental research to identify the chemicals transferred by males that influence female mating behavior, the underlying genes, and the mechanisms by which females protect themselves from these substances. These studies may lead to products that inhibit female reproduction, and which can be used for safe and effective biological control of insects. The project will also contribute to the training of the next generation of scientists by supporting undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral students. These students will disseminate their work through scientific scholarship, and will participate in community outreach programs centered on the public's fascination with insects. These include activities that foster an interest in science in elementary-school children and that enhance scientific literacy by providing resources for the study of insects to high school teachers. Nuptial food gifts are food items given by males to females and are an integral feature of various insect mating systems. In decorated crickets, nuptial food gifts take the form of a spermatophylax, a gelatinous mass forming part of the male's spermatophore and consumed by the female. Although nuptial gifts advance the fitness interests of males by maximizing sperm transfer, their effect on the fitness of females remains unclear. The researchers will employ experimental evolution to explore the role of conflicting male and female goals in driving the evolution of the chemical composition of male nuptial gifts and female responses to them in decorated crickets. Specifically, they will vary the intensity of selection and conflict by manipulating the ratio of males and females in replicate populations, and then monitor, simultaneously, the evolutionary responses of males and females. They will use gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to track evolutionary modifications in the free amino acid profile of the spermatophylax, and targeted gene expression to assess changes in key genes. Female evolutionary responses will be assessed using behavioral assays to assess the gustatory appeal of gifts, and a comparative transcriptomics approach will be used to characterize differential gene expression in brain and gut tissue of females from different selection lines. By coupling a powerful experimental evolution design with state-of-the art functional genomics, they aim to provide one of the most comprehensive examinations of how selection and conflict contribute to the evolution of a widespread reproductive adaptation in insects.