The role of courtship song in sexual selection and species recognition by female Drosophila melanogaster

2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 1165-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Becky C. Talyn ◽  
Harold B. Dowse
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Courtship Song

Courtship song in Drosophila melanogaster: a differential effect on male–female locomotor activity

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (8) ◽  
pp. 1258-1266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solange Kowalski ◽  
Thierry Aubin ◽  
Jean-René Martin
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Tracking System ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Courtship Song ◽  
Video Tracking ◽  
Activity Level ◽  
Sexual Stimulation ◽  
Video Tracking System ◽  
Accurate Quantification

The courtship song of male Drosophila melanogaster Meigen, 1830 is involved in species recognition and sexual stimulation. This signal is usually addressed to the female to reduce her locomotor activity, thereby facilitating copulation. However, no accurate quantification of her locomotion has been made. To examine the effect of courtship song on locomotor behaviour of both sexes, we used a video-tracking system that allowed for the quantification of two indicators of activity level: distance moved and movement duration. First, we showed that the broadcast of the courtship song alone produced no effect on female locomotion. Females reduced their locomotor activity only when acoustical stimulation was placed in a natural courtship context (i.e., in the presence of a male). This suggests that the sum of visual, tactile, acoustic, and chemical stimuli provided by the male may act together to trigger female receptivity. Second, our playback experiments showed a strong stimulating effect of courtship song (particularly of the pulse component) on the locomotor activity of isolated males, suggesting that this signal probably plays a role in male stimulation. Courtship song has an opposite effect on male/female locomotor activity in D. melanogaster.

scholarly journals The evolution of female sex pheromones

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 569-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ally R. Harari ◽  
Hadass Steinitz
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Sex Pheromones ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Social Selection ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Female Sex ◽  
Breeding Resources

Abstract The role of female sex pheromones in natural selection, particularly as a means for species recognition to avoid the generation of hybrid offspring with low fitness, has been widely explored and is generally accepted by scholars. However, the significance of sex pheromones in shaping mate choice (sexual selection) and in competition over breeding resources (social selection) has been largely ignored. The effect of sexual selection on sex pheromones as a sexually dimorphic signaling trait has been discounted because the amount of pheromone released by females is typically minute, while the role of sex pheromones in competition over breeding resources (other than mates) has not yet been considered. As a result of natural selection, variation in sex pheromones among females is expected to be low, and males are not expected to choose their mates among phero-mone-releasing conspecific females. Sexual selection, on the other hand, should drive the increase in pheromone variance among females, and males are expected to choose females based on this variation. Moreover, social selection resulting from more general social interactions, for example competition among females for breeding sites and food, should also promote variance among female sex pheromones. Here, we review the current evidence for each of the three selection processes acting on sex pheromones of female moths as an advertising trait. We suggest that the three selection types are not mutually exclusive but rather act together to promote different fitness components in diverse ecological situations.

scholarly journals Sexual selection and natural selection in bird speciation

1998 ◽  
Vol 353 (1366) ◽  
pp. 251-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevor Price
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Correlated Response ◽  
Premating Isolation ◽  
Sexual Imprinting ◽  
Sexually Selected Traits ◽  
Isolating Mechanisms ◽  
Selected Traits

The role of sexual selection in speciation is investigated, addressing two main issues. First, how do sexually selected traits become species recognition traits? Theory and empirical evidence suggest that female preferences often do not evolve as a correlated response to evolution of male traits. This implies that, contrary to runaway (Fisherian) models of sexual selection, premating isolation will not arise as an automatic side effect of divergence between populations in sexually selected traits. I evaluate premating isolating mechanisms in one group, the birds. In this group premating isolation is often a consequence of sexual imprinting, whereby young birds learn features of their parents and use these features in mate choice. Song, morphology and plumage are known recognition cues. I conclude that perhaps the main role for sexual selection in speciation is in generating differences between populations in traits. Sexual imprinting then leads to these traits being used as species recognition mechanisms. The second issue addressed in this paper is the role of sexual selection in adaptive radiation, again concentrating on birds. Ecological differences between species include large differences in size, which may in themselves be sufficient for species recognition, and differences in habitat, which seem to evolve frequently and at all stages of an adaptive radiation. Differences in habitat often cause song and plumage patterns to evolve as a result of sexual selection for efficient communication. Therefore sexual selection is likely to have an important role in generating premating isolating mechanisms throughout an adaptive radiation. It is also possible that sexual selection, by creating more allopatric species, creates more opportunity for ecological divergence to occur. The limited available evidence does not support this idea. A role for sexual selection in accelerating ecological diversification has yet to be demonstrated.

The Role of Male Courtship Song in Species Recognition in Drosophila montana

2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Saarikettu ◽  
J. O. Liimatainen ◽  
A. Hoikkala
Keyword(s):  
Species Recognition ◽  
Courtship Song ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Drosophila Montana

Behavioral and Cytogenetic Analysis of the cacophony Courtship Song Mutant and Interacting Genetic Variants in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetics ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 115 (3) ◽  
pp. 461-475
Author(s):  
Shankar J Kulkarni ◽  
Jeffrey C Hall
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Locomotor Activity ◽  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Distal Part ◽  
Courtship Song ◽  
Wild Type ◽  
Lethal Mutations ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Chromosomal Breakpoints

ABSTRACT The courtship song of a Drosophila melanogaster male consists of tone pulses interspersed with humming sounds. An X chromosomal mutation, cacophony (cac), causes the production of polycyclic pulses readily distinguishable from those in wild type, which are mono- or bicyclic. Yet, courtship hums and flight wing beats are normal in this mutant, suggesting a specific role of the cac gene in the neural program underlying one particular feature of the fly's wing vibrations. A precise cytogenetic localization of cac is presented; this was obtained by uncovering the song abnormality with deletions that are missing all or the distal part of region 11A; the flies tested were diplo-X adults that had been turned into males by the transformer mutation. Duplications including distal 11A covered cac. The possibility of behavioral specificity for cac's effects was examined by screening a variety of sexual and nonsexual behaviors; these experiments included tests of flies in which the mutation was uncovered by a small deletion. We conclude that cac causes only a limited array of well-defined defects: longer and louder tone pulses in the song and depressed locomotor activity. Further complementation tests involving cac and other closely linked genetic variants-the night-blind-A (nbA) visual mutation, l(1) L13 lethal mutations, and a series of X chromosomal breakpoints-suggested complex interactions among these factors: the breakpoints uncover all three types of mutations; cac and nbA appear to be alleles of l(1)L13, whereas the two behavioral mutations complement each other

scholarly journals Conserved role of Drosophila melanogaster FoxP in motor coordination and courtship song

2014 ◽  
Vol 268 ◽  
pp. 213-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristy J. Lawton ◽  
Taryn L. Wassmer ◽  
David L. Deitcher
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Motor Coordination ◽  
Courtship Song

scholarly journals MULTIPLE ALLELE APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF GENES IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER THAT ARE INVOLVED IN IMAGINAL DISC DEVELOPMENT

Genetics ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Shearn ◽  
Grafton Hersperger ◽  
Evelyn Hersperger ◽  
Ellen Steward Pentz ◽  
Paul Denker
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Mutant Allele ◽  
Imaginal Disc ◽  
Reference Allele ◽  
Multiple Allele ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Chromosome Mutations ◽  
Cold Sensitive

ABSTRACT The phenotypes of five different lethal mutants of Drosophila melanogaster that have small imaginal discs were analyzed in detail. From these results, we inferred whether or not the observed imaginal disc phenotype resulted exclusively from a primary imaginal disc defect in each mutant. To examine the validity of these inferences, we employed a multiple-allele method. Lethal alleles of the five third-chromosome mutations were identified by screening EMS-treated chromosomes for those which fail to complement with a chromosome containing all five reference mutations. Twenty-four mutants were isolated from 13,197 treated chromosomes. Each of the 24 was then tested for complementation with each of the five reference mutants. There was no significant difference in the mutation frequencies at these five loci. The stage of lethality and the imaginal disc morphology of each mutant allele were compared to those of its reference allele in order to examine the range of defects to be found among lethal alleles of each locus. In addition, hybrids of the alleles were examined for intracistronic complementation. For two of the five loci, we detected no significant phenotypic variation among lethal alleles. We infer that each of the mutant alleles at these two loci cause expression of the null activity phenotype. However, for the three other loci, we did detect significant phenotypic variation among lethal alleles. In fact, one of the mutant alleles at each of these three loci causes no detectable imaginal disc defect. This demonstrates that attempting to assess the developmental role of a gene by studying a single mutant allele may lead to erroneous conclusions. As a byproduct of the mutagenesis procedure, we have isolated two dominant, cold-sensitive mutants.

scholarly journals Interactions of ants with native and invasive lady beetles and the role of chemical cues in intraguild interference

Chemoecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Bucher ◽  
Laura M. Japke ◽  
Ayse Gül Ünlü ◽  
Florian Menzel
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Cues ◽  
Harmonia Axyridis ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Lady Beetle ◽  
Lasius Niger ◽  
Beetle Species ◽  
Beetle Elytra ◽  
Lady Beetles ◽  
Ant Aggression

AbstractThe predator-predator naïveté hypothesis suggests that non-native predators benefit from being unknown to native predators, resulting in reduced intraguild interference with native predators. This novelty advantage should depend on the ability of native predators to recognize cues of non-native predators. Here, we compared ant aggression and lady beetle reaction in four native and the invasive lady beetle species Harmonia axyridis. In addition, we tested whether lady beetle cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are involved in species recognition, which might explain naïveté if the invasive species has a specific CHC profile. To this end, we conducted behavioral assays confronting two native ant species with both living lady beetles and lady beetle elytra bearing or lacking CHCs of different lady beetle species. Finally, we characterized CHC profiles of the lady beetles using GC–MS. In general, the aggression of Lasius niger was more frequent than that of Myrmica rubra and L. niger aggression was more frequent towards most native lady beetle species compared to H. axyridis. The removal of CHCs from lady beetle elytra reduced aggression of both ant species. If CHCs of respective lady beetle species were added on cue-free elytra, natural strength of L. niger aggression could be restored. CHC analyses revealed a distinct cue composition for each lady beetle species. Our experiments demonstrate that the presence of chemical cues on the surface of lady beetles contribute to the strength of ant aggression against lady beetles. Reduced aggression of L. niger towards H. axyridis and reduced avoidance behavior in H. axyridis compared to the equally voracious C. septempunctata might improve the invasive lady beetle’s access to ant-tended aphids.

scholarly journals Dual roles for the Drosophila PI 4-kinase Four wheel drive in localizing Rab11 during cytokinesis

2009 ◽  
Vol 187 (6) ◽  
pp. 847-858 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Polevoy ◽  
Ho-Chun Wei ◽  
Raymond Wong ◽  
Zsofia Szentpetery ◽  
Yeun Ju Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Successful Completion ◽  
Dual Roles ◽  
Recycling Endosome ◽  
Golgi Membranes ◽  
Wheel Drive ◽  
Dividing Cells ◽  
Four Wheel Drive

Successful completion of cytokinesis relies on addition of new membrane, and requires the recycling endosome regulator Rab11, which localizes to the midzone. Despite the critical role of Rab11 in this process, little is known about the formation and composition of Rab11-containing organelles. Here, we identify the phosphatidylinositol (PI) 4-kinase III β Four wheel drive (Fwd) as a key regulator of Rab11 during cytokinesis in Drosophila melanogaster spermatocytes. We show Fwd is required for synthesis of PI 4-phosphate (PI4P) on Golgi membranes and for formation of PI4P-containing secretory organelles that localize to the midzone. Fwd binds and colocalizes with Rab11 on Golgi membranes, and is required for localization of Rab11 in dividing cells. A kinase-dead version of Fwd also binds Rab11 and partially restores cytokinesis to fwd mutant flies. Moreover, activated Rab11 partially suppresses loss of fwd. Our data suggest Fwd plays catalytic and noncatalytic roles in regulating Rab11 during cytokinesis.

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