Collaborative Research: Postmating Reproductive Isolation Among Drosophila arizonae and Drosophila mojavensis

合作研究：亚利桑那果蝇和莫哈文西斯果蝇的交配后生殖隔离

• 批准号: 0075307
• 负责人: Scott Pitnick
• 金额: $ 23.7万
• 依托单位: Syracuse University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-09-01 至 2004-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0075307&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Postmating; Reproductive; Isolation

0075307 PitnickThe crucial event for the origin of new species is the formation of reproductive isolation. How one species splits into two reproductively isolated groups of organisms, however, is poorly understood. Fruitflies of the genus Drosophila have been a model system for studies of speciation. These studies have focused on premating or postzygotic isolating mechanisms, or those processes that determine whether or not males and females mate and whether or not they produce viable and fertile offspring, respectively. The multitude of events occurring between insemination and egg fertilization has been largely ignored in studies of speciation. Recent work, however, indicates that sperm, seminal fluid, and female reproductive tract characteristics that are of central importance for successful reproduction are rapidly divergent. The investigators postulate that this divergence will cause diminished reproductive success whenever members of genetically differentiated populations interbreed, and they propose a series of experiments to explicitly test this hypothesis using D. arizonae and its sibling species D. mojavensis, both endemic to North America. Because D. mojavensis from different geographic regions are considered to be incipient species, the investigators will take advantage of a naturally occurring continuum of reproductive isolation for testing their predictions. Preliminary data indicate that populations of D. mojavensis differ significantly in the traits to be measured. By conducting laboratory crosses between members of different populations and species with known reproductive characteristics, the investigators will determine how these characteristics lead to reproductive barriers central to the formation of new species. Results of these experiments may have important implications for the formation of new species.

0075307新物种起源的关键事件是生殖隔离的形成。 然而，一种物种如何分裂成两个生殖孤立的生物群体，知之甚少。 果蝇属的果蝇一直是研究物种研究的模型系统。 这些研究的重点是预测或同进行后隔离机制，或者确定男性和女性是否分别产生可行且肥沃的后代的那些过程。 在形成研究中，授精和卵受精之间发生的许多事件在很大程度上被忽略了。 然而，最近的工作表明，对于成功繁殖而言至关重要的精子，精液和女性生殖道特征是迅速分歧。 研究人员假设，每当遗传分化的人群杂交成员时，这种差异将导致生殖成功，他们提出了一系列实验，以使用Arizonae及其同胞D. Mojavensis进行明确检验该假设，这两者都在北美。 由于来自不同地理区域的莫哈文斯（D. mojavensis）被认为是初期物种，因此研究人员将利用自然存在的生殖隔离连续体来测试其预测。 初步数据表明，在要测量的特征中，莫哈文氏菌的种群有显着差异。 通过在不同人群和具有已知生殖特征的物种的成员之间进行实验室杂交，研究人员将确定这些特征如何导致新物种形成中心的生殖屏障。 这些实验的结果可能对新物种的形成具有重要意义。