%0 Journal Article
%T The Genetic Basis of Female Mate Preference and Species Isolation in Drosophila
%A Meghan Laturney
%A Amanda J. Moehring
%J International Journal of Evolutionary Biology
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/328392
%X The processes that underlie mate choice have long fascinated biologists. With the advent of increasingly refined genetic tools, we are now beginning to understand the genetic basis of how males and females discriminate among potential mates. One aspect of mate discrimination of particular interest is that which isolates one species from another. As behavioral isolation is thought to be the first step in speciation, and females are choosy more often than males in this regard, identifying the genetic variants that influence interspecies female mate choice can enhance our understanding of the process of speciation. Here, we review the literature on female mate choice in the most widely used model system for studies of species isolation Drosophila. Although females appear to use the same traits for both within- and between-species female mate choice, there seems to be a different genetic basis underlying these choices. Interestingly, most genomic regions that cause females to reject heterospecific males fall within areas of low recombination. Likely, candidate genes are those that act within the auditory or olfactory system, or within areas of the brain that process these systems. 1. Introduction Sex has long been a popular topic of research among evolutionary biologists. Our personal fascination with the subject is related to the variation that is seen in sexual behavior. This includes the different roles that make up mating rituals, such as courtship traits or preference for the traits, and the variation of these behaviors observed both within and between species. Understanding the biological basis of mating behavior is not only interesting, it is also important for our understanding of evolution as it can shed light on how species boundaries are formed and maintained. Different mating behaviors of closely related species can act as an isolating barrier that stops gene flow between two interbreeding populations. This usually results from closely related species having diverse mating signals: one or both of the sexes fail to identify the other as a suitable mate [1¨C4]. For example, males of some species court conspecific females more often or with more vigor than heterospecific females [5] and females mate more readily with conspecific than heterospecific males [6, 7]. The impact of Drosophila in this area of research has been pronounced primarily because many obstacles can be bypassed in this system. First, the stereotypical mating behavior observed in this genus is relatively easy to score [8¨C10], there are genetic tools available to allow manipulation
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijeb/2012/328392/