Heritability of and strong single gene (Pgi) effects on life-history traits in the Glanville fritillary butterfly

We estimated broad-sense heritabilities (H²) of 13 female and seven male life-history traits of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) under semi-natural conditions in a large outdoor population cage. The analysis was based on full-sib families collected as young larvae in the field an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of evolutionary biology 2009-09, Vol.22 (9), p.1944-1953
Main Authors: KLEMME, I, HANSKI, I
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal populations
Animals
broad-sense heritability
Butterflies & moths
Butterflies - genetics
Butterflies - growth & development
Evolutionary biology
Female
Females
Genes, Insect
Genetics
Genotype
Glanville fritillary butterfly
Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase - genetics
host-plant preference
Life Cycle Stages
life-history
lifespan
Locomotion
Longevity
Male
Melitaea cinxia
metapopulation
Oviparity
Pgi
Quantitative Trait, Heritable
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Summary:We estimated broad-sense heritabilities (H²) of 13 female and seven male life-history traits of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) under semi-natural conditions in a large outdoor population cage. The analysis was based on full-sib families collected as young larvae in the field and reared under common garden conditions. We found significant genetic variance in female lifespan, fecundity, number of matings and host-plant preference as well as in male body mass and mobility. Apart from host-plant preference, female traits that were more strongly correlated with lifetime reproductive success (LRS; measured as total number of eggs laid) had higher H². LRS itself exhibited significant heritability. Host-plant preference had very high H², consistent with a previously reported genetically determined geographical cline in host-plant preference in the study area. Lifespan and egg hatching rate were significantly associated with a SNP in the coding region of the Pgi gene, for which there is previous evidence for balancing selection. Selection on Pgi, which furthermore shows spatial and temporal variation, may maintain genetic variance in fitness-related life-history traits. In contrast, we found no strong evidence for life-history trade-offs.
ISSN:1010-061X
1420-9101
DOI:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01807.x