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GENETIC ARCHITECTURE OF MALE-FEMALE COEVOLUTION

Drosophila fruit flies have extraordinarily long sperm in males and long sperm storage organs (seminal receptacle or SR) in females. Both traits are coevolving across the lineage, such that species with long sperm have long SRs and species with short sperm have short SRs. These traits are also genetically correlated, meaning that genotypes that produce long sperm in males also produce long SRs in females. Genetic correlation can occur when genes controlling different traits are located near each other on a chromosome (linkage) or when a subset of genes controls both traits (pleiotropy).


The goal of this project is to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for sperm length and SR length and determine if pleiotropy or linkage explains the genetic correlation. We measured sperm length and SR length in over 200 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) that are part of the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource (DSPR). We successfully identified a single QTL for each trait, and they are linked on chr3R (left).


We are now working toward increasing our sample size and functionally validating candidates within each peak. Of particular interest within the sperm length QTL is a testis-specific gene that is expressed only in late spermatogenesis and localizes to spermatid cysts in the last stages of elongation. In the SR length QTL are two genes that regulate epithelial cell migration during development.

Genetic Architecture of male-female coevolution: Research
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