Genetic dissection of intraspecific variation in a male-specific sexual trait in Drosophila melanogaster.

ABSTRACT: An open question in evolutionary biology is the relationship between standing variation for a trait and the variation that leads to interspecific divergence. By identifying loci underlying phenotypic variation in intra- and interspecific crosses we can determine the extent to which polymorphism and divergence are controlled by the same genomic regions. Sexual traits provide abundant examples of morphological and behavioral diversity within and among species, and here we leverage variation in the Drosophila sex comb to address this question. The sex comb is an array of modified bristles or 'teeth' present on the male forelegs of several Drosophilid species. Males use the comb to grasp females during copulation, and ablation experiments have shown that males lacking comb teeth typically fail

SUBMITTER: Cloud-Richardson KM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5117841 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature