RAPID ADAPTATION TO A NOVEL HOST IN A SEED BEETLE (CALLOSOBRUCHUS MACULATUS): THE ROLE OF SEXUAL SELECTION

A screen for bacterial endosymbionts in the model organisms Tribolium castaneum, T. confusum, Callosobruchus maculatus, and related species

Reproductive parasites such as Wolbachia are extremely widespread amongst the arthropods and can have a large influence over the reproduction and fitness of their hosts. Undetected infections could thus confound the results of a wide range of studies that focus on aspects of host behavior, reproduction, fitness, and degrees of reproductive isolation. This potential problem has already been underlined by work investigating the incidence of Wolbachia infections in stocks of the model system Drosophila melanogaster. Here we survey a range of lab stocks of further commonly used model arthropods, focusing especially on the flour beetles Tribolium castaneum and Tribolium confusum, the cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus and related species (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae and Bruchidae). These species are widespread stored product pests so knowledge of infections with symbionts further has potential use in informing biocontrol measures. Beetles were assessed for infection with 3 known microbial reproductive parasites: Wolbachia, Rickettsia, Spiroplasma. Infections with some of these microbes were found in some of the lab stocks studied, although overall infections were relatively rare. The consequences of finding infections in these or other species and the type of previous studies likely to be affected most are discussed.

Genetic, ecological, behavioral and geographic differentiation of populations in a thistle weevil: implications for speciation and biocontrol

Because weevils are used as biocontrol agents against thistles, it is important to document and understand host shifts and the evolution of host-specificity in these insects. Furthermore, such host shifts are of fundamental interest to mechanisms of speciation. The mediterranean weevil Larinus cynarae normally parasitizes either one of two thistle genera, Onopordum and Cynara, being locally monophagous. In Sardinia, however, both host genera are used. We used three types of data to help understand this complex host use: (i) weevil attack rates on the two host genera among 53 different populations in Sardinia and nearby Corsica, (ii) host preference in a lab setting, and (iii) genetic (allozyme) differentiation among weevil populations exploiting the same or different hosts. Using a subset of populations from northern Sardinia, we attempted to relate interpopulation differences in host preference to gene flow among populations by comparing pairwise differences in oviposition preference (Qst) and in allozyme frequencies (Fst). Overall, Qst and Fst were positively correlated. Fst was positively correlated with geographic distance among pairs of populations using the same host, but not among different-host population pairs. As mating occurs on the hosts, this result suggests reinforcement. Genetic evidence indicates Cynara as the ancestral host of the weevils from both islands and our current studies suggest repeated attempts to colonize Onopordum, with a successful shift in Corsica and a partial shift in Sardinia. This scenario would explain why in Sardinia the level of attack was higher on Cynara than on Onopordum and why, when given a choice in the laboratory, Sardinian weevils preferred Cynara even when sampled from Onopordum. The lability of host shifts in L. cynarae supports caution in using these or related weevils as biocontrol agents of exotic thistles.

Host switching in a generalist parasitoid: contrasting transient and transgenerational costs associated with novel and original host species

Parasitoids face challenges by switching between host species that influence survival and fitness, determine their role in structuring communities, influence species invasions, and affect their importance as biocontrol agents. In the generalist parasitoid, Venturia canescens (Gravenhorst) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), we investigated the costs in encapsulation, survival, and body size on juveniles when adult parasitoids switched from their original host, Plodia interpunctella (Hübner) (Lepidotera, Pyralidae) to a novel host, Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera, Pyralidae), over multiple generations. Switching had an initial survival cost for juvenile parasitoids in the novel host, but increased survival occurred within two generations. Conversely, mortality in the original host increased. Body size, a proxy for fecundity, also increased with the number of generations in the novel host species, reflecting adaptation or maternal effects due to the larger size of the novel host, and therefore greater resources available to the developing parasitoid. Switching to a novel host appears to have initial costs for a parasitoid, even when the novel host may be better quality, but the costs rapidly diminish. We predict that the net cost of switching to a novel host for parasitoids will be complex and will depend on the initial reduction in fitness from parasitizing a novel host versus local adaptations against parasitoids in the original host.

Female responses to experimental removal of sexual selection components in Drosophila melanogaster

BACKGROUND

Despite the common assumption that multiple mating should in general be favored in males, but not in females, to date there is no consensus on the general impact of multiple mating on female fitness. Notably, very little is known about the genetic and physiological features underlying the female response to sexual selection pressures. By combining an experimental evolution approach with genomic techniques, we investigated the effects of single and multiple matings on female fecundity and gene expression. We experimentally manipulated the opportunity for mating in replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster by removing components of sexual selection, with the aim of testing differences in short term post-mating effects of females evolved under different mating strategies.

RESULTS

We show that monogamous females suffer decreased fecundity, a decrease that was partially recovered by experimentally reversing the selection pressure back to the ancestral state. The post-mating gene expression profiles of monogamous females differ significantly from promiscuous females, involving 9% of the genes tested (approximately 6% of total genes in D. melanogaster). These transcripts are active in several tissues, mainly ovaries, neural tissues and midgut, and are involved in metabolic processes, reproduction and signaling pathways.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results demonstrate how the female post-mating response can evolve under different mating systems, and provide novel insights into the genes targeted by sexual selection in females, by identifying a list of candidate genes responsible for the decrease in female fecundity in the absence of promiscuity.

Courtship song does not increase the rate of adaptation to a thermally stressful environment in a Drosophila melanogaster laboratory population

Courtship song in D. melanogaster contributes substantially to male mating success through female selection. We used experimental evolution to test whether this display trait is maintained through adaptive female selection because it indicates heritable male quality for thermal stress tolerance. We used non-displaying, outbred populations of D. melanogaster (nub1) mutants and measured their rate of adaptation to a new, thermally stressful environment, relative to wild-type control populations that retained courtship song. This design retains sexually selected conflict in both treatments. Thermal stress should select across genomes for newly beneficial alleles, increasing the available genetic and phenotypic variation and, therefore, the magnitude of female benefit derived from courtship song. Following introduction to the thermally stressful environment, net reproductive rate decreased 50% over four generations, and then increased 19% over the following 16 generations. There were no differences between the treatments. Possible explanations for these results are discussed.

Global genetic differentiation in a cosmopolitan pest of stored beans: effects of geography, host-plant usage and anthropogenic factors

Genetic differentiation can be promoted allopatrically by geographic isolation of populations due to limited dispersal ability and diversification over time or sympatrically through, for example, host-race formation. In crop pests, the trading of crops across the world can lead to intermixing of genetically distinct pest populations. However, our understanding of the importance of allopatric and sympatric genetic differentiation in the face of anthropogenic genetic intermixing is limited. Here, we examined global sequence variation in two mitochondrial and one nuclear genes in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus that uses different legumes as hosts. We analyzed 180 samples from 42 populations of this stored bean pest from tropical and subtropical continents and archipelagos: Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Oceania and South America. For the mitochondrial genes, there was weak but significant genetic differentiation across continents/archipelagos. Further, we found pronounced differentiation among subregions within continents/archipelagos both globally and within Africa but not within Asia. We suggest that multiple introductions into Asia and subsequent intermixing within Asia have generated this pattern. The isolation by distance hypothesis was supported globally (with or without continents controlled) but not when host species was restricted to cowpeas Vigna unguiculata, the ancestral host of C. maculatus. We also document significant among-host differentiation both globally and within Asia, but not within Africa. We failed to reject a scenario of a constant population size in the recent past combined with selective neutrality for the mitochondrial genes. We conclude that mitochondrial DNA differentiation is primarily due to geographic isolation within Africa and to multiple invasions by different alleles, followed by host shifts, within Asia. The weak inter-continental differentiation is most likely due to frequent inter-continental gene flow mediated by human crop trade.

Transient and permanent experience with fatty acids changes Drosophila melanogaster preference and fitness

Food and host-preference relies on genetic adaptation and sensory experience. In vertebrates, experience with food-related cues during early development can change adult preference. This is also true in holometabolous insects, which undergo a drastic nervous system remodelling during their complete metamorphosis, but remains uncertain in Drosophila melanogaster. We have conditioned D. melanogaster with oleic (C18:1) and stearic (C18:0) acids, two common dietary fatty acids, respectively preferred by larvae and adult. Wild-type individuals exposed either during a transient period of development-from embryo to adult-or more permanently-during one to ten generation cycles-were affected by such conditioning. In particular, the oviposition preference of females exposed to each fatty acid during larval development was affected without cross-effect indicating the specificity of each substance. Permanent exposure to each fatty acid also drastically changed oviposition preference as well as major fitness traits (development duration, sex-ratio, fecundity, adult lethality). This suggests that D. melanogaster ability to adapt to new food sources is determined by its genetic and sensory plasticity both of which may explain the success of this generalist-diet species.

No evidence for reproductive isolation through sexual conflict in the bulb mite Rhizoglyphus robini

Sexual conflict leading to sexual antagonistic coevolution has been hypothesized to drive reproductive isolation in allopatric populations and hence lead to speciation. However, the generality of this speciation mechanism is under debate. We used experimental evolution in the bulb mite Rhizoglyphusrobini to investigate whether sexual conflict promotes reproductive isolation measured comprehensively to include all possible pre- and post-zygotic mechanisms. We established replicate populations in which we either enforced monogamy, and hence removed sexual conflict by making male and female evolutionary interests congruent, or allowed promiscuity. After 35 and 45 generations of experimental evolution, we found no evidence of reproductive isolation between the populations in any of the mating systems. Our results indicate that sexual conflict does not necessarily drive fast reproductive isolation and it may not be a ubiquitous mechanism leading to speciation.

Adaptation to a novel host by a seed beetle (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae): effect of source population

Geographic populations of a widespread species can differ in their ability to adapt to a novel environment because they possess different amounts of the requisite genetic variation. We compared responses to the same novel host in ecologically and genetically divergent populations of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (F.). Populations from Africa and Asia had been derived from and maintained on different legume hosts. In preselection assays, both populations exhibited lower survival, slower development, and smaller size on a third host (adzuki bean), and the difference in performance between the ancestral and novel hosts was especially high for the African population. Replicate lines of each population were switched to adzuki bean or maintained on the ancestral host, and beetle performance was measured on both hosts after 12 generations. Survival on adzuki bean increased substantially in the adzuki-bean lines of the African population, but improved only slightly in the Asian lines. Similarly, only the African adzuki-bean lines exhibited significantly faster development on adzuki bean. Improved performance on adzuki bean did not simultaneously reduce performance on the ancestral host. Together with previous studies, these results confirm that populations of C. maculatus often possess sufficient standing genetic variation for rapid adaptation to a novel host, but the magnitude of the response may depend on the source population. Although international trade in grain legumes can expand beetle host ranges and produce unusual biotypes, the consistent absence of strong genetic trade-offs in larval performance or adult oviposition across hosts makes it unlikely that this insect would form distinct host races.

Resistance of αAI-1 transgenic chickpea (Cicer arietinum) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) dry grains to bruchid beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Dry grain legume seeds possessing αAI-1, an α-amylase inhibitor from common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), under the control of a cotyledon-specific promoter have been shown to be highly resistant to several important bruchid pest species. One transgenic chickpea and four cowpea lines expressing αAI-1, their respective controls, as well as nine conventional chickpea cultivars were assessed for their resistance to the bruchids Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say), Callosobruchus chinensis L. and Callosobruchus maculatus F. All transgenic lines were highly resistant to both Callosobruchus species. A. obtectus, known to be tolerant to αAI-1, was able to develop in all transgenic lines. While the cotyledons of all non-transgenic cultivars were highly susceptible to all bruchids, C. chinensis and C. maculatus larvae suffered from significantly increased mortality rates inside transgenic seeds. The main factor responsible for the partial resistance in the non-transgenic cultivars was deduced to reside in the seed coat. The αAI-1 present in seeds of transgenic chickpea and cowpea lines significantly increases their resistance to two important bruchid pest species (C. chinensis and C. maculatus) essentially to immunity. To control αAI-1 tolerant bruchid species such as A. obtectus and to avoid the development of resistance to αAI-1, varieties carrying this transgene should be protected with additional control measures.

Female mate preferences for male body size and shape promote sexual isolation in threespine sticklebacks

Female mate preferences for ecologically relevant traits may enhance natural selection, leading to rapid divergence. They may also forge a link between mate choice within species and sexual isolation between species. Here, we examine female mate preference for two ecologically important traits: body size and body shape. We measured female preferences within and between species of benthic, limnetic, and anadromous threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus species complex). We found that mate preferences differed between species and between contexts (i.e., within vs. between species). Within species, anadromous females preferred males that were deep bodied for their size, benthic females preferred larger males (as measured by centroid size), and limnetic females preferred males that were more limnetic shaped. In heterospecific mating trials between benthics and limnetics, limnetic females continued to prefer males that were more limnetic like in shape when presented with benthic males. Benthic females showed no preferences for size when presented with limnetic males. These results show that females use ecologically relevant traits to select mates in all three species and that female preference has diverged between species. These results suggest that sexual selection may act in concert with natural selection on stickleback size and shape. Further, our results suggest that female preferences may track adaptation to local environments and contribute to sexual isolation between benthic and limnetic sticklebacks.

Mating system affects population performance and extinction risk under environmental challenge

Failure of organisms to adapt to sudden environmental changes may lead to extinction. The type of mating system, by affecting fertility and the strength of sexual selection, may have a major impact on a population's chances to adapt and survive. Here, we use experimental evolution in bulb mites (Rhizoglyphus robini) to examine the effects of the mating system on population performance under environmental change. We demonstrate that populations in which monogamy was enforced suffered a dramatic fitness decline when evolving at an increased temperature, whereas the negative effects of change in a thermal environment were alleviated in polygamous populations. Strikingly, within 17 generations, all monogamous populations experiencing higher temperature went extinct, whereas all polygamous populations survived. Our results show that the mating system may have dramatic effects on the risk of extinction under environmental change.

Mode of inheritance of increased host acceptance in a seed beetle

Colonization of a novel plant by herbivorous insects is frequently accompanied by genetic changes that progressively improve larval or adult performance on the new host. This study examined the genetic basis of adaptation to a marginal host (lentil) by the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus (F.). Quasi-natural selection in the laboratory rapidly increased the tendency to oviposit on lentil. The mode of inheritance of this increase in host acceptance was determined from crosses between three lentil-adapted lines and a line maintained on the ancestral host, mung bean. In each set of crosses, females from the lentil lines laid two to three times more eggs on lentil than did females from the mung-bean line. Hybrid females consistently displayed an intermediate level of host acceptance, which did not differ between reciprocal crosses. Alleles promoting greater oviposition on lentil thus were inherited additively, with no evidence of sex-linkage or cytoplasmic effects. In a time-course study, hybrid females initially resembled the parent from the mung-bean line, as few eggs were laid on lentil during the first 24 h. However, oviposition rates on lentil after 72 h were closer to the rate observed in the lentil-line parent. Inferences about additivity vs. dominance in genes affecting oviposition may, therefore, depend on experimental protocol. Comparison with earlier work suggests that inheritance patterns observed in crosses between recently derived selection lines (as in this study) may differ from those obtained in crosses between long-divergent geographic populations.

Investigating climate change and reproduction: experimental tools from evolutionary biology

It is now generally acknowledged that climate change has wide-ranging biological consequences, potentially leading to impacts on biodiversity. Environmental factors can have diverse and often strong effects on reproduction, with obvious ramifications for population fitness. Nevertheless, reproductive traits are often neglected in conservation considerations. Focusing on animals, recent progress in sexual selection and sexual conflict research suggests that reproductive costs may pose an underestimated hurdle during rapid climate change, potentially lowering adaptive potential and increasing extinction risk of certain populations. Nevertheless, regime shifts may have both negative and positive effects on reproduction, so it is important to acquire detailed experimental data. We hence present an overview of the literature reporting short-term reproductive consequences of exposure to different environmental factors. From the enormous diversity of findings, we conclude that climate change research could benefit greatly from more coordinated efforts incorporating evolutionary approaches in order to obtain cross-comparable data on how individual and population reproductive fitness respond in the long term. Therefore, we propose ideas and methods concerning future efforts dealing with reproductive consequences of climate change, in particular by highlighting the advantages of multi-generational experimental evolution experiments.

Experimental evolution

Experimental evolution is the study of evolutionary processes occurring in experimental populations in response to conditions imposed by the experimenter. This research approach is increasingly used to study adaptation, estimate evolutionary parameters, and test diverse evolutionary hypotheses. Long applied in vaccine development, experimental evolution also finds new applications in biotechnology. Recent technological developments provide a path towards detailed understanding of the genomic and molecular basis of experimental evolutionary change, while new findings raise new questions that can be addressed with this approach. However, experimental evolution has important limitations, and the interpretation of results is subject to caveats resulting from small population sizes, limited timescales, the simplified nature of laboratory environments, and, in some cases, the potential to misinterpret the selective forces and other processes at work.

Relative effectiveness of mating success and sperm competition at eliminating deleterious mutations in Drosophila melanogaster

Condition-dependence theory predicts that sexual selection will facilitate adaptation by selecting against deleterious mutations that affect the expression of sexually selected traits indirectly via condition. Recent empirical studies have provided support for this prediction; however, their results do not elucidate the relative effects of pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection on deleterious mutations. We used the Drosophila melanogaster model system to discern the relative contributions of pre- and postcopulatory processes to selection against deleterious mutations. To assess second-male ejaculate competition success (P2; measured as the proportion of offspring attributable to the experimental male) and mating success, mutant and wild-type male D. melanogaster were given the opportunity to mate with females that were previously mated to a standard competitor male. This process was repeated for males subjected to a diet quality manipulation to test for effects of environmentally-manipulated condition on P2 and mating success. While none of the tested mutations affected P2, there was a clear effect of condition. Conversely, several of the mutations affected mating success, while condition showed no effect. Our results suggest that precopulatory selection may be more effective than postcopulatory selection at removing deleterious mutations. The opposite result obtained for our diet manipulation points to an interesting discrepancy between environmental and genetic manipulations of condition, which may be explained by the multidimensionality of condition. Establishing whether the various stages of sexual selection affect deleterious mutations differently, and to what extent, remains an important issue to resolve.

Reducing mutation load through sexual selection on males

Mutation load is a key parameter in evolutionary theories, but relatively little empirical information exists on the mutation load of populations, or the elimination of this load through selection. We manipulated the opportunity for sexual selection within a mutation accumulation divergence experiment to determine how sexual selection on males affected the accumulation of mutations contributing to sexual and nonsexual fitness. Sexual selection prevented the accumulation of mutations affecting male mating success, the target trait, as well as reducing mutation load on productivity, a nonsexual fitness component. Mutational correlations between mating success and productivity (estimated in the absence of sexual selection) were positive. Sexual selection significantly reduced these fitness component correlations. Male mating success significantly diverged between sexual selection treatments, consistent with the fixation of genetic differences. However, the rank of the treatments was not consistent across assays, indicating that the mutational effects on mating success were conditional on biotic and abiotic context. Our experiment suggests that greater insight into the genetic targets of natural and sexual selection can be gained by focusing on mutational rather than standing genetic variation, and on the behavior of trait variances rather than means.

Populations with elevated mutation load do not benefit from the operation of sexual selection

Theory predicts that if most mutations are deleterious to both overall fitness and condition-dependent traits affecting mating success, sexual selection will purge mutation load and increase nonsexual fitness. We explored this possibility with populations of mutagenized Drosophila melanogaster exhibiting elevated levels of deleterious variation and evolving in the presence or absence of male-male competition and female choice. After 60 generations of experimental evolution, monogamous populations exhibited higher total reproductive output than polygamous populations. Parental environment also affected fitness measures - flies that evolved in the presence of sexual conflict showed reduced nonsexual fitness when their parents experienced a polygamous environment, indicating trans-generational effects of male harassment and highlighting the importance of a common garden design. This cost of parental promiscuity was nearly absent in monogamous lines, providing evidence for the evolution of reduced sexual antagonism. There was no overall difference in egg-to-adult viability between selection regimes. If mutation load was reduced by the action of sexual selection in this experiment, the resultant gain in fitness was not sufficient to overcome the costs of sexual antagonism.

Can preference for oviposition sites initiate reproductive isolation in Callosobruchus maculatus?

Theory has identified a variety of evolutionary processes that may lead to speciation. Our study includes selection experiments using different host plants and test key predictions concerning models of speciation based on host plant choice, such as the evolution of host use (preference and performance) and assortative mating. This study shows that after only ten generations of selection on different resources/hosts in allopatry, strains of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus develop new resource preferences and show resource-dependent assortative mating when given the possibility to choose mates and resources during secondary contact. The resulting reduced gene flow between the different strains remained for two generations after contact before being overrun by disassortative mating. We show that reduced gene flow can evolve in a population due to a link between host preference and assortative mating, although this result was not found in all lines. However, consistent with models of speciation, assortative mating alone is not sufficient to maintain reproductive isolation when individuals disperse freely between hosts. We conclude that the evolution of reproductive isolation in this system cannot proceed without selection against hybrids. Other possible factors facilitating the evolution of isolation would be longer periods of allopatry, the build up of local adaptation or reduced migration upon secondary contact.

Local adaptation does not always predict high mating success

The hypothesis that adaptation to local environments can increase mating success was tested using ten replicate lines of Drosophila melanogaster adapted either to 16 degrees C or to 25 degrees C. Competitive mating trials at both temperatures were performed with males taken from a pair of lines, one adapted to each temperature. There was no average increase in mating success for males adapted to the local environment. Although one pair of lines showed the expected pattern, another pair showed the reverse pattern. More data are needed on this hypothesis, preferably with lines that have more strongly adapted to local environments.

Adaptations to sexual selection and sexual conflict: insights from experimental evolution and artificial selection

Artificial selection and experimental evolution document natural selection under controlled conditions. Collectively, these techniques are continuing to provide fresh and important insights into the genetic basis of evolutionary change, and are now being employed to investigate mating behaviour. Here, we focus on how selection techniques can reveal the genetic basis of post-mating adaptations to sexual selection and sexual conflict. Alteration of the operational sex ratio of adult Drosophila over just a few tens of generations can lead to altered ejaculate allocation patterns and the evolution of resistance in females to the costly effects of elevated mating rates. We provide new data to show how male responses to the presence of rivals can evolve. For several traits, the way in which males responded to rivals was opposite in lines selected for male-biased, as opposed to female-biased, adult sex ratio. This shows that the manipulation of the relative intensity of intra- and inter-sexual selection can lead to replicable and repeatable effects on mating systems, and reveals the potential for significant contemporary evolutionary change. Such studies, with important safeguards, have potential utility for understanding sexual selection and sexual conflict across many taxa. We discuss how artificial selection studies combined with genomics will continue to deepen our knowledge of the evolutionary principles first laid down by Darwin 150 years ago.

Natural selection hampers divergence of reproductive traits in a seed beetle

Speciation is thought to often result from indirect selection for reproductive isolation. This will occur when reproductive traits that cause reproductive isolation evolve (i) as a by-product of natural selection on traits with which they are genetically correlated or (ii) as an indirect result of diversifying sexual selection. Here, we use experimental evolution to study the degree of divergent evolution of reproductive traits by manipulating the intensity of natural and sexual selection in replicated selection lines of seed beetles. Following 40 generations of selection, we assayed the degree of divergent evolution of reproductive traits between replicate selection lines experiencing the same selection regime. The evolution of reproductive traits was significantly divergent across selection lines within treatments. The evolution of reproductive traits was both slower and, more importantly, significantly less divergent among lines experiencing stronger directional natural selection. This suggests that reproductive traits did not evolve as an indirect by-product of adaptation. We discuss several ways in which natural selection may hamper divergent evolution among allopatric populations.

The roles of life-history selection and sexual selection in the adaptive evolution of mating behavior in a beetle

Although there is continuing debate about whether sexual selection promotes or impedes adaptation to novel environments, the role of mating behavior in such adaptation remains largely unexplored. We investigated the evolution of mating behavior (latency to mating, mating probability and duration) in replicate populations of seed beetles Callosobruchus maculatus subjected to selection on life-history ("Young" vs. "Old" reproduction) under contrasting regimes of sexual selection ("Monogamy" vs. "Polygamy"). Life-history selection is predicted to favor delayed mating in "Old" females, but sexual conflict under polygamy can potentially retard adaptive life-history evolution. We found that life-history selection yielded the predicted changes in mating behavior, but sexual selection regime had no net effect. In within-line crosses, populations selected for late reproduction showed equally reduced early-life mating probability regardless of mating system. In between-line crosses, however, the effect of life-history selection on early-life mating probability was stronger in polygamous lines than in monogamous ones. Thus, although mating system influenced male-female coevolution, removal of sexual selection did not affect the adaptive evolution of mating behavior. Importantly, our study shows that the interaction between sexual selection and life-history selection can result in either increased or decreased reproductive divergence depending on the ecological context.

Are adaptation costs necessary to build up a local adaptation pattern?

BACKGROUND

Ecological specialization is pervasive in phytophagous arthropods. In such specialization mode, limits to host range are imposed by trade-offs preventing adaptation to several hosts. The occurrence of such trade-offs is inferred by a pattern of local adaptation, i.e., a negative correlation between relative performance on different hosts.

RESULTS

To establish a causal link between local adaptation and trade-offs, we performed experimental evolution of spider mites on cucumber, tomato and pepper, starting from a population adapted to cucumber. Spider mites adapted to each novel host within 15 generations and no further evolution was observed at generation 25. A pattern of local adaptation was found, as lines evolving on a novel host performed better on that host than lines evolving on other hosts. However, costs of adaptation were absent. Indeed, lines adapted to tomato had similar or higher performance on pepper than lines evolving on the ancestral host (which represent the initial performance of all lines) and the converse was also true, e.g. negatively correlated responses were not observed on the alternative novel host. Moreover, adapting to novel hosts did not result in decreased performance on the ancestral host. Adaptation did not modify host ranking, as all lines performed best on the ancestral host. Furthermore, mites from all lines preferred the ancestral to novel hosts. Mate choice experiments indicated that crosses between individuals from the same or from a different selection regime were equally likely, hence development of reproductive isolation among lines adapted to different hosts is unlikely.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, performance and preference are not expected to impose limits to host range in our study species. Our results show that the evolution of a local adaptation pattern is not necessarily associated with the evolution of an adaptation cost.

Sex differences, sexual selection, and ageing: an experimental evolution approach

Life-history (LH) theory predicts that selection will optimize the trade-off between reproduction and somatic maintenance. Reproductive ageing and finite life span are direct consequences of such optimization. Sexual selection and conflict profoundly affect the reproductive strategies of the sexes and thus can play an important role in the evolution of life span and ageing. In theory, sexual selection can favor the evolution of either faster or slower ageing, but the evidence is equivocal. We used a novel selection experiment to investigate the potential of sexual selection to influence the adaptive evolution of age-specific LH traits. We selected replicate populations of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus for age at reproduction ("Young" and "Old") either with or without sexual selection. We found that LH selection resulted in the evolution of age-specific reproduction and mortality but these changes were largely unaffected by sexual selection. Sexual selection depressed net reproductive performance and failed to promote adaptation. Nonetheless, the evolution of several traits differed between males and females. These data challenge the importance of current sexual selection in promoting rapid adaptation to environmental change but support the hypothesis that sex differences in LH-a historical signature of sexual selection-are key in shaping trait responses to novel selection.

Purging the genome with sexual selection: reducing mutation load through selection on males

Healthy males are likely to have higher mating success than unhealthy males because of differential expression of condition-dependent traits such as mate searching intensity, fighting ability, display vigor, and some types of exaggerated morphological characters. We therefore expect that most new mutations that are deleterious for overall fitness may also be deleterious for male mating success. From this perspective, sexual selection is not limited to influencing those genes directly involved in exaggerated morphological traits but rather affects most, if not all, genes in the genome. If true, sexual selection can be an important force acting to reduce the frequency of deleterious mutations and, as a result, mutation load. We review the literature and find various forms of indirect evidence that sexual selection helps to eliminate deleterious mutations. However, direct evidence is scant, and there are almost no data available to address a key issue: is selection in males stronger than selection in females? In addition, the total effect of sexual selection on mutation load is complicated by possible increases in mutation rate that may be attributable to sexual selection. Finally, sexual selection affects population fitness not only through mutation load but also through sexual conflict, making it difficult to empirically measure how sexual selection affects load. Several lines of enquiry are suggested to better fill large gaps in our understanding of sexual selection and its effect on genetic load.

Sexual selection accelerates the elimination of a deleterious mutant in Drosophila melanogaster

Although theory indicates that indirect genetic benefits through mate choice should be widespread, empirical work has often either failed to detect the operation of such benefits or shown a net cost to the presence of sexual selection. We tested whether sexual selection can increase the speed with which a conditionally deleterious allele is removed from a laboratory population of Drosophila melanogaster. The alcohol dehydrogenase null allele (Adh-) confers slightly lower viability than wild-type alleles in the absence of ethanol but is lethal in homozygotes when ethanol comprises 6% of the medium. We tracked the frequency of this allele in artificially constructed populations reared at three different levels of ethanol (0%, 2%, and 4%) that either experienced sexual selection or did not. Loss of the deleterious Adh- allele was more rapid when sexual selection was allowed to act, especially in the presence of ethanol. We also quantified the strength of both nonsexual and sexual selection against the Adh- allele using maximum-likelihood estimation. In contrast to recent experiments employing monogamy/polygamy designs, our results demonstrate a fitness benefit to sexual selection. This is consistent with the operation of good-genes female choice.

Genetic architecture underlying convergent evolution of egg-laying behavior in a seed-feeding beetle

Independent populations subjected to similar environments often exhibit convergent evolution. An unresolved question is the frequency with which such convergence reflects parallel genetic mechanisms. We examined the convergent evolution of egg-laying behavior in the seed-feeding beetle Callosobruchus maculatus. Females avoid ovipositing on seeds bearing conspecific eggs, but the degree of host discrimination varies among geographic populations. In a previous experiment, replicate lines switched from a small host to a large one evolved reduced discrimination after 40 generations. We used line crosses to determine the genetic architecture underlying this rapid response. The most parsimonious genetic models included dominance and/or epistasis for all crosses. The genetic architecture underlying reduced discrimination in two lines was not significantly different from the architecture underlying differences between geographic populations, but the architecture underlying the divergence of a third line differed from all others. We conclude that convergence of this complex trait may in some cases involve parallel genetic mechanisms.

Sexual selection affects lifespan and aging in the seed beetle

Sexual selection in general, and sexual conflict in particular, should affect the evolution of lifespan and aging. Using experimental evolution, we tested whether removal of sexual selection leads to the evolution of accelerated or decelerated senescence. We subjected replicated populations of the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus to either of two selection regimes for 35 generations. These regimes either allowed (polygamy) or removed the potential (monogamy) for sexual selection to operate. To test for the evolution of intrinsic differences between the two selection regimes, we assayed longevity in replicate cohorts of virgin females and males. Virgin females from populations evolving under sexual selection had reduced lifespan as predicted by the sexual conflict theory of aging. However, this reduction was due to increased baseline mortality rather than an increase in age-specific mortality rates with age. We discuss these findings in light of other data from this model system and suggest that system-specific idiosyncrasies may often modulate the general effects of male-female coevolution on the evolution of aging.

Maintenance of genetic variation in sexual ornaments: a review of the mechanisms

Female preferences for elaborate male sexual traits have been documented in a number of species in which males contribute only genes to the next generation. In such systems, mate choice has been hypothesised to benefit females genetically. For the genetic benefits to be possible there must be additive genetic variation (V A) for sexual ornaments, such that highly ornamented males can pass fitter genes on to the progeny of choosy females. Here, I review the mechanisms that can contribute to the maintenance of this variation. The variation may be limited to sexual ornaments, resulting in Fisherian benefits in terms of the increased reproductive success of male progeny produced by choosy females. Alternatively, ornaments may capture V A in other life-history traits. In the latter case, "good genes" benefits may apply in terms of improved performance of the progeny of either sex. Some mechanisms, however, such as negative pleiotropy, sexually antagonistic variation or overdominance, can maintain V A in ornaments and other life-history traits with little variation in total fitness, leaving little room for any genetic benefits of mate choice. Distinguishing between these mechanisms has consequences not only for the theory of sexual selection, but also for evolution of sex and for biological conservation. I discuss how the traditional ways of testing for genetic benefits can usefully be supplemented by tests detecting benefits resulting from specific mechanisms maintaining V A in sexual ornaments.