Individuals within a population vary in many traits, including both continuous and discontinuous characteristics such as sex, color, size, morphology, behavior, and personality. Studies on intraspecific genetic variation had focused on two areas fundamental to evolutionary ecology: the evolutionary processes generating genetic variation and the ecological consequences of the evolution of genetic variation in a species/population (Bolnick et al., 2011; Forsman, 2008). For example, population genetics revealed that intraspecific genetic variation is maintained in populations through balancing selection or a migration-selection balance (Mallet & Barton, 1989; Slatkin, 1973). Genetic variations are then suggested to enhance speciation and adaptive radiation over an evolutionary time scale (Mallet & Barton, 1989; Slatkin, 1973). On the other hand, ecological consequences of the genetic variation are getting
Intrapopulation variation in behaviour, including activity, boldness and aggressiveness, is becoming more widely recognized and is hypothesized to substantially affect ecological and evolutionary dynamics. Although previous studies used candidate-gene approaches and genome-wide association analyses to identify genes correlated with variations in activity and aggressiveness, behavioural variation may not be fully captured in the nuclear genome, as it does not account for mitochondrial genomes. Mitochondrial genes encode products that are key regulators of the cellular energy-producing pathways in metabolic processes and are thought to play a significant role in life-history and reproductive traits. In this study, we considered many isofemale lines of Drosophila immigrans established from two wild populations to investigate whether intrapopulation variation in the mitochondrial genome affected activity level within this species. We identified two major haplogroups in these populations, and activity levels in both larvae and adults differed significantly between the two haplogroups. This result indicated that intrapopulation variation in activity level may be partially controlled by mitochondrial genes, along with the interaction between nuclear and mitochondrial genes and the age of individual organisms.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.