Quantitative trait loci affecting a courtship signal in Drosophila melanogaster

Courtship plays a major role in the sexual isolation of species, yet the genetics underlying courtship behaviour are poorly understood. Here we analyse quantitative trait loci (QTL) for a major component of courtship song in recombinant inbred lines derived from two laboratory strains of Drosophila...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Heredity 2002-07, Vol.89 (1), p.1-6
Main Authors: Gleason, J M, Nuzhdin, S V, Ritchie, M G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Chromosome Mapping
Courtship
Cytogenetics
Drosophila melanogaster - genetics
Drosophila melanogaster - physiology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Female
Gene mapping
Genetic variance
Genetics
Human Genetics
Lod Score
Male
original-article
Plant Genetics and Genomics
Quantitative Trait Loci
Sexual Behavior, Animal
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Summary:Courtship plays a major role in the sexual isolation of species, yet the genetics underlying courtship behaviour are poorly understood. Here we analyse quantitative trait loci (QTL) for a major component of courtship song in recombinant inbred lines derived from two laboratory strains of Drosophila melanogaster . The total variance among lines exceeds that between parental strains, and is broadly similar to that seen among geographic strains of the Cosmopolitan form of this species. Previous studies of the quantitative genetics of fly song have implied a polygenic additive inheritance with numerous genes spread throughout the genome. We find evidence for only three significant QTLs explaining 54% of the genetic variance in total. Thus there is evidence for a few large effect genes contributing to the genetic variance among lines. Interestingly, almost all of the candidate song genes previously described for D. melanogaster do not coincide with our QTLs.
ISSN:0018-067X
1365-2540
DOI:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800099