QTLs and candidate genes for behaviour in natural populations

交配行为的变化是自然种群中性选择、基因流动和物种形成的原因，但也是在遗传水平上最难研究的特征之一。在果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）等生物体中已经发现了许多影响行为的基因，但很少有研究表明这些基因的等位基因变异对自然种群的变异有多重要。我们将利用基因组信息、遗传评分和统计方法的新技术来检测自然种群中的基因，以研究影响北极果蝇物种蒙大拿果蝇生态重要行为特征变异的基因的基因组位置。我们将检查在实验室中确定的影响黑腹龙这些性状的基因以及随机背景基因。我们将从两个不同的自然种群（来自芬兰和加拿大）中产生半自然种群D montana，并测试基因的等位基因变异是否与雄性和雌性歌曲偏好共同遗传。结果将确定在自然种群中影响这些特征的基因，并告诉我们这些基因在种群之间和不同物种之间是否保守。这些结果很重要，因为它们使我们能够确定基因的功能是否在物种之间是保守的，这对我们理解基因功能和行为具有重要意义，这在自然种群中研究得很少。

Variation in mating behaviour is responsible for sexual selection, gene flow and speciation in natural populations, but is amongst the most difficult traits to study at a genetic level. Numerous genes influencing behaviour have been identified in organisms such as the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster but there are very few studies of how important allelic variation at these genes is to variation in natural populations. We will take advantage of new techniques in genome information, genetic scoring and statistical approaches to detecting genes in natural populations to examine the genomic location of genes influencing variation in ecologically important behavioural traits in the Arctic fly species Drosophila montana. We will examine genes identified in the laboratory as influencing these traits in D melanogaster as well as random background genes. We will produce semi-natural populations of D montana from two different natural populations (from Finland and Canada) and test whether allelic variation in genes is co-inherited with male song and female song preferences. The results will identify genes influencing these traits in natural populations and tell us if these genes are conserved between populations and between different species. The results are important because they allow us to determine whether the function of genes is conserved across species, which has important implications for our understanding of gene function and behaviour, which are very poorly studied in natural populations.