Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 55108.
Evolution. 2020 May;74(5):1002-1009. doi: 10.1111/evo.13952. Epub 2020 Mar 29.
Pleiotropy between male signals and female preferences can facilitate evolution of sexual communication by maintaining coordination between the sexes. Alternatively, it can favor variation in the mating system, such as a reproductive polymorphism. It is unknown how common either of these scenarios is in nature. In Pacific field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) on Kauai, Hawaii, a mutation (flatwing) that segregates as a single locus is responsible for the rapid loss of song production in males. We used outbred cricket colonies fixed for male wing morph to investigate whether homozygous flatwing and normal-wing (wild-type) females differ in responsiveness to male calling song and propensity to mate when paired with either a flatwing or normal-wing male in the presence or absence of courtship song. Flatwing females were less likely to mount a male than normal-wing females. Females of both genotypes showed a preference for normal-wing males and were more likely to mate in the presence of courtship song; normal-wing females were particularly likely to mate with song. Our results show that negative pleiotropy between obligate male silence and female mating behavior can constrain the evolution of sexual signal loss and contribute to the maintenance of a male reproductive polymorphism in the wild.
雌雄信号间的多效性和雌雄偏好间的多效性，可通过维持两性间的协调来促进性通讯的进化。或者，它可以有利于交配系统的变异，例如生殖多态性。目前还不清楚这两种情况在自然界中哪种更为常见。在夏威夷考艾岛的太平洋蟋蟀（Teleogryllus oceanicus）中，一个作为单一基因座分离的突变（平翅）导致雄性迅速丧失歌唱能力。我们利用同质交配的蟋蟀群体，对雄性翅膀形态进行固定，研究了在有或没有求偶鸣叫的情况下，当与平翅或正常翅雄性配对时，纯合的平翅和正常翅雌性对雄性求偶鸣叫的反应性和交配倾向是否存在差异。平翅雌性比正常翅雌性更不可能与雄性交配。两种基因型的雌性都表现出对正常翅雄性的偏好，并且在有求偶鸣叫的情况下更有可能交配；正常翅雌性尤其可能与有歌唱能力的雄性交配。我们的研究结果表明，雄虫强制性沉默与雌虫交配行为之间的负多效性，可能限制了性信号丧失的进化，并有助于维持野生种群中雄虫生殖多态性的维持。
