Moreteau B, R'Kha S, David J R
Laboratoire de Biologie et Génétique évolutives, CNRS, Gif sur Yvette, France.
Behav Genet. 1994 Sep;24(5):433-41. doi: 10.1007/BF01076179.
Among three sibling species of the D. melanogaster subgroup, two are generalists (D. simulans and D. mauritiana), while the third, D. sechellia, specializes on a single toxic resource, the fruit of Morinda citrifolia. D. sechellia, resistant to the toxics, prefers to oviposit on morinda; D. simulans, which is very sensitive, is strongly repelled. D. mauritiana exhibits an aberrant behavior since it prefers to lay its eggs on morinda, where its embryos are killed. Oviposition behavior, studied in parental species, F1 hybrids, and backcrosses, was mostly an additive genetical trait. Further investigations were made with D. mauritiana and D. simulans carrying recessive markers. The X and second chromosomes had no effect, while a clear effect was found for chromosome 3. Since the toxicity of morinda is due to middle-length fatty acids, the behavior of the three species toward various acids was investigated. We found that D. sechellia exhibited a general oviposition preference for acids, while D. simulans was repelled by acids with at least four carbons. Surprisingly D. mauritiana exhibited behavior quite similar to that of D. simulans. Preference for morinda in D. sechellia and D. mauritiana could be mediated by different chemicals.
在黑腹果蝇亚组的三个姐妹物种中，有两个是广食性物种（拟暗果蝇和毛里求斯果蝇），而第三个物种，即塞舌尔果蝇，专门以一种有毒资源——巴戟天的果实为食。对毒素具有抗性的塞舌尔果蝇更喜欢在巴戟天上产卵；对毒素非常敏感的拟暗果蝇则会被强烈排斥。毛里求斯果蝇表现出一种异常行为，因为它更喜欢在巴戟天上产卵，但其胚胎会在那里死亡。在亲本物种、F1杂种和回交后代中研究的产卵行为大多是一种加性遗传性状。对携带隐性标记的毛里求斯果蝇和拟暗果蝇进行了进一步研究。X染色体和第二号染色体没有影响，而三号染色体有明显影响。由于巴戟天的毒性是由中等长度的脂肪酸引起的，因此研究了这三个物种对各种酸的行为。我们发现，塞舌尔果蝇对酸表现出普遍的产卵偏好，而拟暗果蝇则被至少含有四个碳原子的酸所排斥。令人惊讶的是，毛里求斯果蝇的行为与拟暗果蝇非常相似。塞舌尔果蝇和毛里求斯果蝇对巴戟天的偏好可能由不同的化学物质介导。
