Mate choice in the brain: Species differ in how male traits ‘turn on’ gene expression in female brains
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ABSTRACT:
PROVIDER: PRJNA1098040 | ENA |
REPOSITORIES: ENA
Dataset's files
| Action | DRS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRR28599500_1.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR28599500_2.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR28599600_1.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR28599600_2.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz | |||
| SRR28599700_1.fastq.gz | Fastqsanger.gz |
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Project description:Mate choice plays a fundamental role in speciation, yet we know little about the molecular mechanisms that underpin this crucial decision-making process. Stickleback fish differentially adapted to limnetic and benthic habitats are reproductively isolated and females of each species use different male traits to evaluate prospective partners and reject heterospecific males. Here, we integrate behavioral data from a mate choice experiment with gene expression profiles from the brains of females actively deciding whether to mate. We find substantial gene expression variation between limnetic and benthic females, regardless of behavioral context, suggesting general divergence in constitutive gene expression patterns, corresponding to their genetic differentiation. Intriguingly, female gene co-expression modules covary with male display traits but in opposing directions for sympatric populations of the two species, suggesting male displays elicit a dynamic neurogenomic response that reflects known differences in female preferences. Furthermore, we confirm the role of numerous candidate genes previously implicated in female mate choice in other species, suggesting that evolutionary tinkering with these conserved molecular processes underlies divergent mate preferences and sexual isolation. Taken together, our study adds important new insights to our understanding of the molecular processes underlying female decision-making critical for generating sexual isolation and speciation.
2024-05-07 | GSE263554 | GEO
Project description:Background The evolution of female choice mechanisms favouring males of their own kind is considered as crucial step during the early stages of speciation. However, although the genomics of mate choice may influence both the likelihood and speed of speciation, the identity and location of genes underlying assortative mating remain largely unknown. Methods and Findings We used mate choice experiments and gene expression analysis of female D. melanogaster to examine three key components influencing speciation. We show that the 1,498 genes in Zimbabwean female Drosophila melanogaster whose expression levels differ when mating with more (Zimbabwean) versus less (Cosmopolitan strain) preferred males include many with high expression in the central nervous system and ovaries, are disproportionately X-linked and form a number of clusters with low recombination distance. Significant involvement of the brain and ovaries is consistent with the action of a combination of pre- and postcopulatory female choice mechanisms, while sex linkage and clustering of genes lead to high potential evolutionary rate and sheltering against the homogenizing effects of gene exchange between populations. Conclusion Taken together our results imply favourable genomic conditions for the evolution of reproductive isolation through mate choice in Zimbabwean D. melanogaster and suggest that mate choice may, in general, act as an even more important engine of speciation than previously realized.
2011-02-05 | GSE27076 | GEO
Project description:The evolution of female choice mechanisms favouring males of their own kind is considered as crucial step during the early stages of speciation. However, although the genomics of mate choice may influence both the likelihood and speed of speciation, the identity and location of genes underlying assortative mating remain largely unknown. We used mate choice experiments and gene expression analysis of female D. melanogaster to examine three key components influencing speciation. We show that the 1,498 genes in Zimbabwean female Drosophila melanogaster whose expression levels differ when mating with more (Zimbabwean) versus less (Cosmopolitan strain) preferred males include many with high expression in the central nervous system and ovaries, are disproportionately X-linked and form a number of clusters with low recombination distance. Significant involvement of the brain and ovaries is consistent with the action of a combination of pre- and post-copulatory female choice mechanisms, while sex linkage and clustering of genes lead to high potential evolutionary rate and sheltering against the homogenizing effects of gene exchange between populations. Taken together our results imply favourable genomic conditions for the evolution of reproductive isolation through mate choice in Zimbabwean D. melanogaster and suggest that mate choice may, in general, act as an even more important engine of speciation than previously realized. We measured gene expression of adult female Drosophila melanogaster from a composite Zimbabwe (Z) strain population named SZ, produced by mixing the genomes of six Z strain isofemale lines, shortly after mating them with either SZ strain or cosmopolitan (M strain) males. Data from four replicates of each of the two treatments (SZ mated with SZ; SZ mated with M) are presented, giving a total of eight arrays.
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Project description:Social interactions can drive distinct gene expression profiles which may vary by social context. Here we use female sailfin molly fish (Poecilia latipinna) to identify genomic profiles associated with preference behavior in distinct social contexts: male-interactions (mate choice) versus female-interactions (shoaling partner preference). We measured behavior of 15 females interacting in a non-contact environment with either two males or two females for 30 minutes followed by whole brain transcriptomic profiling by RNA sequencing. We profiled females that exhibited high levels of social affiliation and great variation in preference behavior to identify an order of magnitude more differentially expressed genes associated with behavioral variation than by differences in social context. Using linear modeling (limma), we took advantage of the individual variation in preference behavior to identify unique gene sets that exhibited distinct correlational patterns of expression with preference behavior in each social context. By combining limma and weighted gene co-expression network analyses (WGCNA) approaches we identify a refined set of 401 genes robustly associated with mate preference that is independent of shoaling partner preference or general social affiliation. While our refined gene set confirmed neural plasticity pathways involved in moderating female preference behavior, we also identified a significant proportion of discovered that our preference-associated genes were enriched for ‘immune system’ gene ontology categories. We hypothesize that the association between mate preference and transcriptomic immune function is driven by the less well-known role of these genes in neural plasticity which is likely involved in higher-order learning and processing during mate choice decisions.
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Project description:Non-random mating provides multiple evolutionary benefits and can result in speciation. Biological organisms are characterised by a myriad of different traits, many of which can serve as mating cues. We consider multiple mechanisms of non-random mating simultaneously within a unified modelling framework in an attempt to understand better which are more likely to evolve in natural populations going through the process of local adaptation and ecological speciation. We show that certain traits that are under direct natural selection are more likely to be co-opted as mating cues, leading to the appearance of magic traits (i.e. phenotypic traits involved in both local adaptation and mating decisions). Multiple mechanisms of non-random mating can interact so that trait co-evolution enables the evolution of non-random mating mechanisms that would not evolve alone. The presence of magic traits may suggest that ecological selection was acting during the origin of new species.
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Project description:Choice of genetically unrelated mates is widely documented, yet it is not known how self-referential mate choice can co-occur with commonly observed directional selection on sexual displays. Across 10 breeding seasons in a wild bird population, we found strong fitness benefits of matings between genetically unrelated partners and show that self-referential choice of genetically unrelated mates alternates with sexual selection on elaborate plumage. Seasonal cycles of diminishing variation in ornamentation, caused by early pairing of the most elaborated males, and influx of increasingly genetically unrelated available mates caused by female-biased dispersal, lead to temporal fluctuations in the target of mate choice and enabled coexistence of directional selection for ornament elaboration with adaptive pairing of genetically unrelated partners.
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Project description:D. simulans vs. Sechellia bodies choice vs. no choice -Affymetrix
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Project description:Mate choice is an important cause of sexual selection; it can drive the evolution of extravagant ornaments and displays, and promote speciation through the reproductive isolation generated by rapid divergence of sexual traits. Understanding mate choice requires knowledge of the traits involved in generating mate-choice decisions, and how those traits may interact with each other. It has been proposed that mate-choice decisions are the outcome of two components that vary independently: the preference function (the ranking of the attractiveness of prospective mates) and choosiness (the effort invested in mate assessment). Here we test this hypothesis by examining individual variation in female preference functions and choosiness in green treefrogs ( Hyla cinerea). We show that measures describing preference functions and choosiness are not correlated. We also show that both components are influenced differently by variation in female body size, and that preference function shape (closed and preferring intermediate values or open-ended and preferring extremes) has a strong influence on this relationship: function traits are positively correlated with body size only for individuals with closed functions, while choosiness is positively correlated with body size for individuals with open functions, but negatively for those with closed functions.
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