Quantitative trait loci and interaction effects responsible for variation in female postmating mortality in Drosophila simulans and D. sechellia introgression lines

Abstract

Mating appears to inflict a cost to Drosophila females, resulting in a reduction of their lifespan shortly after mating. Males from different chromosome extracted lines differ significantly in their detrimental effects on postmating female survival, and seminal fluid proteins produced in the male accessory glands are at least partially responsible for the effect. This suggests that there is a genetic basis underlying the male inflicted effect on female's postmating mortality. However, the genes responsible for this effect remain elusive. Using males from introgression lines between D. simulans and D. sechellia genomes and a quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping approach, we identified chromosomal regions that affect postmating mortality of females. We found a second chromosome QTL with an effect on average female lifespan after mating and a third chromosome QTL with an effect on postmating female mortality rate. Under the general observation of a faster divergence of sex-related genes among closely related species, it is predicted that genes for reproductive traits other than hybrid sterility will show evidence of epistatic effects when brought into a heterospecific background. We detected a significant epistatic genetic effect on postmating female mortality rate that supports this prediction. Heredity (2005) 94, 94-100.

Targeted Gene Deletion and Phenotypic Analysis of the Drosophila melanogaster Seminal Fluid Protease Inhibitor Acp62F

“…The potential toxicity of Acp62F suggests that it interferes with essential proteolytic cascades and may thus also contribute to the cost of mating in mated females. Consistent with this hypothesis, QTL analysis in D. sechellia has identified a genomic region containing Acp62F that contributes to the cost of mating (Civetta et al 2005).…”

Natural variation in male-induced ‘cost-of-mating’ and allele-specific association with male reproductive genes in Drosophila melanogaster

“…In addition, it is possible to arrive at satisfying answers about the heritability and genetic correlation of traits much faster than one could having to first identify and map Mendelian factors. A compromise approach is to map quantitative trait loci (QTL), and Civetta et al (2005) illustrate the power of this approach by mapping factors responsible for the differences between D. simulans and D. sechellia in postmating female mortality. QTL mapping provides the first step toward identifying individual genes associated with a complex character, but the magnitude of the effort between first identifying a QTL and subsequently isolating the single gene (or cluster of genes) responsible for the phenotype can range widely.…”

Sexual Conflict and Seminal Fluid Proteins: A Dynamic Landscape of Sexual Interactions

“…Such a relationship is observed between increased male sperm defense (success of a first mating male after subsequent matings) and early female mortality in D. melanogaster (Civetta and Clark 2000). Furthermore, SFPs with identified or predicted reproductive functions that benefit males are implicated in causing female mating costs in Drosophila (SP [Wigby and Chapman 2005]) or have been suggested to play such a role (e.g., SP, CG8137, and CG10433 [Mueller et al 2007]; Acp62F [Lung et al 2002; Civetta et al 2005]). However, the situation may be complex, as a recent study in D. melanogaster found no evidence that elevation of sexual conflict, via increased male to female sex ratio, affected the frequency of a null allele of Acp62F (Wong and Rundle 2013).…”