Evolution of Specificity in Insect/Plant Interactions: The Relationship of Oviposition Preference and Larval Performance

本研究关注蝶类（鳞翅目）近缘种蝴蝶产卵偏好和幼虫表现之间的关系，这些蝴蝶在它们赖以为生的植物家族中存在差异。本研究将利用最近的发现，产卵偏好在P. oregonius的部分控制的X染色体上的位点。这一发现提供了第一次有机会问一些基本的问题，产卵偏好和幼虫的性能是如何在昆虫/植物相互作用的主机协会的进化遗传相关。第一节的研究测试是否幼虫在不同的植物物种的性能是控制，部分或完全由X染色体上的位点，因为这些物种的产卵偏好。第二节，然后分析是否有异雌株系在不同的植物物种的幼虫性能的人口之间的变化，因为有在这些物种中产卵的女性的寄主选择。最后，第三节考虑如何在幼虫的性能变化与产卵偏好的变化，通过X染色体遗传。总之，从这三个部分的结果将有助于昆虫/植物相互作用的理论和宿主协会的进化生态学的发展，解决产卵偏好和不同主机上的幼虫性能之间的关系的基本问题。

Thisresearch concerns the relationship between oviposition preference and larval performance in closely-related butterfly species of Papilio (Lepidoptera) that differ in the plant families on which they feed. The study will take advantage of the recent finding that oviposition preference in P. oregonius is controlled partly by loci on the X chromosome. This finding provides for the first time the opportunity to ask some fundamental questions on how oviposition preference and larval performance are genetically related in the evolution of host associations in insect/plant interactions. Section I of the study tests whether larval performance on different plant species is controlled, partly or solely, by loci on the X chromosome as is oviposition preference in these species. Section II then analyzes whether there is variation among isofemale lines within population in larval performance on different plant species as there is for host selection in ovipositing females in these species. Finally, section III considers how variation in larval performance correlates with variation in oviposition preference with respect to inheritance through the X chromosome. Together, the results from these three sections will aid in the development of the theory of insect/plant interactions and the evolutionary ecology of host association by addressing the fundamental problem of the relationship between oviposition preference and larval performance on different hosts.