Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3258, USA.
J Evol Biol. 2009 Nov;22(11):2183-91. doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2009.01834.x. Epub 2009 Sep 18.
Drosophila melanogaster are found in sympatry with Drosophila simulans, and matings between the species produce nonfertile hybrid offspring at low frequency. Evolutionary theory predicts that females choose mates, so males should alter their behaviour in response to female cues. We show that D. melanogaster males quickly decrease courtship towards D. simulans females. Courtship levels are reduced within 5 min of exposure to a heterospecific female, and overall courtship is significantly lower than courtship towards conspecific females. To understand changes at the molecular level during mate choice, we performed microarray analysis on D. melanogaster males that courted heterospecific D. simulans females and found nine genes have altered expression compared with controls. In contrast, males that court conspecific females alter expression of at least 35 loci. The changes elicited by conspecific courtship likely modulate nervous system function to reinforce positive conspecific signals and dampen the response to heterospecific signals.
黑腹果蝇与拟暗果蝇同域分布，这两个物种之间的交配产生低频率的不育杂种后代。进化理论预测雌性选择配偶，因此雄性应该改变它们的行为以响应雌性线索。我们发现黑腹果蝇雄蝇很快减少对拟暗果蝇雌蝇的求偶。接触异源雌性 5 分钟内，求偶水平降低，并且总体求偶明显低于对同种雌性的求偶。为了了解在配偶选择过程中分子水平的变化，我们对向异源拟暗果蝇雌蝇求偶的黑腹果蝇雄蝇进行了微阵列分析，发现与对照相比，有 9 个基因的表达发生了改变。相比之下，向同种雌蝇求偶的雄蝇至少改变了 35 个基因座的表达。同种求偶引起的变化可能调节神经系统功能，以加强对同种信号的反应，并抑制对异源信号的反应。
