Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, K7L 3N6, Canada.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 9;7(1):7712. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-08155-y.
Characteristics of male courtship behavior in Drosophila melanogaster have been well-described, but the genetic basis of male-female copulation is largely unknown. Here we show that the white (w) gene, a classical gene for eye color, is associated with copulation success. 82.5% of wild-type Canton-S flies copulated within 60 minutes in circular arenas, whereas few white-eyed mutants mated successfully. The w allele exchanged to the X chromosome or duplicated to the Y chromosome in the white-eyed genetic background rescued the defect of copulation success. The w -associated copulation success was independent of eye color phenotype. Addition of the mini-white (mw ) gene to the white-eyed mutant rescued the defect of copulation success in a manner that was mw copy number-dependent. Lastly, male-female sexual experience mimicked the effects of w /mw in improving successful copulation. These data suggest that the w gene controls copulation success in Drosophila melanogaster.
黑腹果蝇雄虫求偶行为特征已有详尽描述，但雄雌交配的遗传基础在很大程度上仍是未知的。在这里，我们发现经典眼色基因白眼（w ）与交配成功率相关。在圆形竞技场中，82.5%的野生型 Canton-S 果蝇在 60 分钟内完成交配，而很少有白眼突变体成功交配。白眼遗传背景下，w 等位基因交换到 X 染色体或复制到 Y 染色体，可挽救交配成功率的缺陷。与眼睛颜色表型无关，w 相关的交配成功率与眼睛颜色表型无关。在白眼突变体中加入 mini-white（mw ）基因以 mw 拷贝数依赖的方式挽救交配成功率的缺陷。最后，雄性-雌性性经验模拟 w /mw 对提高成功交配的影响。这些数据表明，w 基因控制着黑腹果蝇的交配成功率。
