Oviposition but Not Sex Allocation Is Associated with Transcriptomic Changes in Females of the Parasitoid Wasp Nasonia vitripennis.

ABSTRACT: Linking the evolution of the phenotype to the underlying genotype is a key aim of evolutionary genetics and is crucial to our understanding of how natural selection shapes a trait. Here, we consider the genetic basis of sex allocation behavior in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis using a transcriptomics approach. Females allocate offspring sex in line with the local mate competition (LMC) theory. Female-biased sex ratios are produced when one or a few females lay eggs on a patch. As the number of females contributing offspring to a patch increases, less female-biased sex ratios are favored. We contrasted the transcriptomic responses of females as they oviposit under conditions known to influence sex allocation: foundress number (a social cue) and the state of the host (parasitized or

SUBMITTER: Cook N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4683659 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature