Mitchell Bloo, Abbott Alexandria, Brown Ashanti, Skinner Lacy N, Umarova Elmira, Kohlmeier Philip
Am Nat. 2025 Aug;206(2):171-178. doi: 10.1086/736329. Epub 2025 Jun 26.
AbstractMate choice is a critical decision, especially for females, that requires time and energy to assess potential partners' genetic quality. Consequently, in many species, females have evolved the ability to utilize social information by copying the mate choices of others, usually based on visual cues. However, many species, especially invertebrates, primarily rely on chemical not visual cues. Using chemical rather than visual cues provides several advantages, such as not requiring active observation of copulations. Despite that, empirical evidence for the existence of chemical mate choice copying is scarce. Using , we provide the first demonstration of chemical mate choice copying. Females exposed to a recently mated female select the same male genotype that the demonstrator female mated with at a higher frequency than expected by chance. Chemical mate choice copying requires sensing both male and female cues, which might indicate that other females have chosen that male genotype. Our work suggests that females, in the presence of mated females, increase choosiness at the virgin stage, elevating sexual selection on male traits. This study provides novel evidence that exploiting social information is more prevalent in flies than previously assumed.
摘要择偶是一个关键决策，对雌性而言尤为如此，这需要时间和精力来评估潜在配偶的基因质量。因此，在许多物种中，雌性进化出了通过模仿其他个体的择偶行为来利用社会信息的能力，通常基于视觉线索。然而，许多物种，尤其是无脊椎动物，主要依靠化学线索而非视觉线索。使用化学线索而非视觉线索有几个优点，比如不需要主动观察交配行为。尽管如此，关于化学择偶模仿存在的实证证据却很稀少。通过[具体实验或方法]，我们首次证明了化学择偶模仿现象。接触过近期交配过的雌性的雌性，会以高于随机预期的频率选择示范雌性与之交配的相同雄性基因型。化学择偶模仿需要感知雄性和雌性线索，这可能表明其他雌性已经选择了该雄性基因型。我们的研究表明，在有交配过的雌性存在的情况下，雌性在处女阶段会增加挑剔程度，从而增强对雄性性状的性选择。这项研究提供了新的证据，表明利用社会信息在果蝇中比之前认为的更为普遍。
