Genomic signatures of sexual selection in the Yellow Fever mosquito.

蚊媒疾病被认为直接影响到至少三分之一人口的福祉和生计。我们控制蚊媒疾病的能力在很大程度上依赖于减少蚊子的数量。然而，越来越多的杀虫剂抗药性威胁到现有的控制工具。一些新的策略将包括释放实验室饲养的雄性，这些雄性需要与野生雄性成功竞争配偶。因此，对雄蚊交配成功的决定因素的进一步了解将极大地促进这些新策略。最近，我们操纵了黄热病蚊子埃及伊蚊复制种群的雄性竞争强度。该物种既是重要的虫媒病毒载体，也是生殖控制释放的主要目标之一。我们发现，在交配环境中，对雄性竞争水平的操纵既影响雄性竞争交配的成功，也影响其他重要的行为和生活史特征。在这个项目中，我们将通过在实验进化过程中的几个时间点对来自无竞争和高竞争种群的个体进行测序，来探索这些复制种群中选择的遗传特征。这将使我们能够评估表型变化与基因组变化的关联程度，这些变化的可定位性，以及遗传漂变和选择对观察到的进化反应的相对影响。我们将把这一结果与一组在基因可变的蚊子种群中进行的实验结合起来，这些实验将比较成功雄性和不成功雄性（性竞争中的“赢家”和“输家”）之间的等位基因频率。这名学生将在帝国理工学院西尔伍德公园校区接受蚊子交配行为和种群遗传学专家劳伦·卡托博士和奥斯汀·伯特教授的指导。此外，该学生将由EPFL的Brian Hollis博士指导，他是性选择进化遗传学方面的专家。学生将获得蚊子行为、基因组技术、生物信息学和种群遗传学方面的技能。

Mosquito-borne diseases are thought to directly impact the well-being and livelihood of at least one-third of the human population. Our ability to control mosquito-borne diseases heavily relies on reducing mosquito populations. However, the growing incidence of insecticide resistance threatens current control tools. Several new strategies will involve the release of laboratory-reared males which will need to compete successfully with wild males for mates. Thus, these new strategies will be greatly facilitated by an improved understanding of the determinants of male mosquito mating success.Recently, we manipulated the strength of male competition in replicate populations of the Yellow Fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. This species is both an important arbo-virus vector and one of the main targets of reproductive control releases. We found that manipulation of the level of male-male competition in mating environments affects both male competitive mating success and other important behavioural and life history traits. In this project, we will explore the genetic signature of selection in these replicated populations by sequencing of pools of individuals from our no competition and high competition populations at several time points from the course of experimental evolution. This will allow us to assess the degree to which phenotypic changes are associated with changes in the genome, the localizability of these changes, and the relative influences of genetic drift and selection on the observed evolutionary response. We will combine this with a set of experiments in a genetically variable mosquito population that will compare allele frequencies between more and less successful males ("winners" and "losers" in sexual competition).The student will be supervised at Imperial College's Silwood Park Campus by Dr. Lauren Cator and Prof. Austin Burt, experts in mosquito mating behaviour and population genetics. Additionally, the student will be supervised by Dr. Brian Hollis of EPFL an expert in evolutionary genetics of sexual selection. The student will gain skills in mosquito behaviour, genomic techniques, bioinformatics, and population genetics.