The Genetics of Sexual Selection in Nauphoeta Cinerea

大多数群体遗传模型假定交配是随机的，与感兴趣的特征有关。然而，对于许多影响交配成功的角色来说，交配往往是非随机的。有相当多的证据表明，在各种物种中，雄性竞争和/或雌性配偶选择的成功是导致非随机交配的一个相当常见的因素。因此，越来越多的人尝试建立这种选择的过程和影响的遗传模型。不幸的是，模型的数量已经超过了我们对这一过程的经验知识，导致越来越多的人呼吁进行研究，开始测试数学模型中包含的预测和假设。这项研究将通过检测灰鹦鹉螺第二性征、求偶信息素和性行为的遗传学来开始解决这一需求。由于缺乏合适的模式物种，实证研究一直受到阻碍。蟑螂N.cinerea具有许多促进性选择遗传研究的属性，包括较短的世代时间、兼性孤雌生殖和良好的行为特征。这些品质允许对理论研究得出的假设和预测进行详细的检验。女性配偶选择、男性社交行为、男性吸引力和相关男性信息素的变化将通过行为分析和气相色谱进行评估。性别内和性别之间的遗传差异和协方差将从父系半同胞交配设计中估计出来。根据雄性对雌性的吸引力进行的人工选择将被用来确认从繁殖实验中获得的遗传估计。这项研究产生的信息将增加我们对信息素的表型和遗传结构以及化学交流的一般知识。此外，这项研究将足够详细，以检验对性选择和性二态进化的数学模型的几个预测和假设。最后，这些实验将提供与进化遗传学中的几个问题有关的经验数据。

Most population genetic models assume that mating is random with respect to the character of interest. However mating is often nonrandom with respect to many characters that influence mating success. There is considerable evidence that success in male-male competition and/or female mate choice is a fairly common contributor to nonrandom mating in variety of species. As a result, there has been a growing attempt to generate genetic models of the process and effects of such selection. Unfortunately, the number of models has exceeded our empirical knowledge of this process, resulting in a growing call for studies that begin to test the predictions and assumptions contained in mathematical models. This study will begin to address this need by examining the genetics of secondary sexual characters, courtship pheromones, and sexual behavior in Nauphoeta cinerea. Empirical studies have been hampered by a lack of suitable model species. The cockroach N. cinerea has many attributes that facilitate genetic studies of sexual selection, including short generation time, facultative parthenogenesis, and well characterized behavior. These qualities permit a detailed examination of assumptions and predictions derived from theoretical studies. Variation in female mate choice, male social behavior, male attractiveness, and related male pheromones will be assessed by behavioral assays and gas chromatography. Genetic variances and convariances within and between the sexes will be estimated from a paternal half-sib mating design. Artificial selection based on male attractiveness to females will be used to confirm genetic estimates obtained from the breeding experiments. The information generated from this study will increase our general knowledge of the phenotypic and genetic structure of pheromones and chemical communication. In addition, this study will be sufficiently detailed to test several predictions and assumptions of mathematical models of sexual selection and the evolution of sexual dimorphism. Finally, these experiments will provide empirical data that bear on several issues in evolutionary genetics.