Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
G3 (Bethesda). 2024 Apr 3;14(4). doi: 10.1093/g3journal/jkae010.
Sexual dimorphism in traits of insects during the developmental stages could potentially be the direct or indirect result of sex-specific selection provided that genetic variation for sexual dimorphism is present. We investigated genetic variation in sexual dimorphism in a set of Drosophila melanogaster inbred lines for 2 traits: egg to adult development time and pupation site preference. We observed considerable genetic variation in sexual dimorphism among lines in both traits. The sexual dimorphic patterns remained relatively consistent across multiple trials, despite both traits being sensitive to environmental conditions. Additionally, we measured 2 sexually dimorphic adult morphological traits in 6 sampled lines and investigated correlations in the sexual dimorphism patterns with the 2 developmental traits. The abundance of genetic variation in sexual dimorphism for D. melanogaster developmental traits demonstrated in this study provides evidence for a high degree of evolvability of sex differences in preadult traits in natural populations.
在发育阶段，昆虫特征的性二型性可能是性选择的直接或间接结果，前提是存在性二型性的遗传变异。我们研究了一组黑腹果蝇近交系在 2 个特征上的性二型性遗传变异：卵到成虫的发育时间和化蛹地点偏好。我们观察到，在这两个特征上，不同品系之间的性二型性遗传变异相当大。尽管这两个特征都对环境条件敏感，但性二型模式在多次试验中仍然相对一致。此外，我们测量了 6 个抽样品系中 2 个性二态成年形态特征，并研究了这些特征与 2 个发育特征的性二型模式之间的相关性。本研究中黑腹果蝇发育特征的性二型性遗传变异的丰富程度为自然种群中未成年特征的性别差异具有高度可进化性提供了证据。
