Sex pheromone production and perception in European corn borer moths is determined by both autosomal and sex-linked genes

Abstract

Inheritance patterns for sex pheromone production in females, pheromone detection on male antennal olfactory receptor cells, and male pheromone behavioral responses were studied in pheromonally distinct populations of European corn borers from New York State. Gas chromatographic analyses of pheromone glands, single sensiflum recordings, and flight tunnel behavioral analyses were carried out on progeny from reciprocal crosses, as well as on progeny from subsequent F2 and maternal and paternal backcrosses. The data show that the production of the female pheromone blend primarily is controlled by a single autosomal factor, that pheromone-responding olfactory cells are controlled by another autosomal factor, and that behavioral response to pheromone is controlled by a sex-linked gene. F1 males were found to possess olfactory receptor cells that give spike amplitudes to the two pheromone isomers that are intermediate to those of the high and low amplitude cells of the parent populations. Fifty-five percent of the F1 males tested responded fully to pheromone sources ranging from the hybrid (E)'11-tetradecenyl acetate/(Z)-11-tetradecenyl acetate (E/Z) molar blend of 65:35 to the E/Z molar blend of 3.97 for the Z morph parents, but very few responded to the E/Z molar blend of 99:1 for the E morph parents. Data on the inheritance patterns support speculation that the Z morph is the ancestral and that the E morph is the derived European corn borer population.

Experimental Evidence for Three Pheromone Races of the Scarab Beetle Phyllophaga anxia (LeConte)

“…Hybrid females produce intermediate blend ratios of approximately 35:65 Z/E (Roelofs et al 1985;Glover et al 1991), and hybrid male moths preferentially fly to blends of the E/Z isomers in the flight tunnel, although more hybrid males of either E×Z or Z×E crosses fly to the Z blend alone than to the E blend alone. Despite of the fact that natural hybridization between the E and Z pheromone races is well documented in the field, an in-depth genetic analysis of sex pheromone production and perception in this species predicts that no self-sustaining population of hybrids can exist (Roelofs et al 1987). Therefore, the origin of the stable blend-responding populations of P. anxia is intriguing.…”

“…Roelofs et al (1987) speculated that a few simple genetic substitutions could result in the E strain evolving from the Z strain. However, changes in the sex pheromone production system would have to evolve by a different mechanism in P. anxia because the raw materials are not synthesized de novo.…”

Gene Flow Among Three Races of European Corn Borers (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in New York State

“…Of the 13 female hybrids discovered via gas chromatographc analysis, 10 were further analyzed for TPI phenotype, and all 10 had the Tpi-l phenotype as expected if their fathers were BE males. Roelofs et al (1987) and Glover et al (1990) also investigated the response profiles of F, males and demonstrated that hybrid males respond to a wide-range of pheromone blends with significant numbers responding to all blends except the E pheromone. In fact, in the more recent study (see Fig.…”

Females learn from mothers and males learn from others. The effect of mother and siblings on the development of female mate preferences and male aggression biases in Lake Victoria cichlids, genus Mbipia

“…Although the occurrence of species-assortative behaviour is relatively common, in comparison, only a few studies have looked at what developmental mechanism mediates it and, if so, then often only in one of the sexes (fish: Engeszer et al 2004;Verzijden and ten Cate 2007;songbirds: ten Cate and Vos 1999;Slagsvold et al 2002;Hansen and Slagsvold 2003;Riebel 2003; corn borer moths: Roelofs et al 1987;crickets: Shaw 2000;Ritchie 2000; fruit flies: overview in Coyne and Orr 2004). As a consequence, our understanding of the possible evolutionary trajectories leading to assortative behaviour and reproductive isolation is limited.…”