A supergene in seaweed flies modulates male traits and female perception

Enge, SwantjeGothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för marina vetenskaper, Tjärnö marinlaboratoriet,Department of marine sciences, Tjärnö Marine Laboratory (author)

Supergenes, tightly linked sets of alleles, offer some of the most spectacular examples of polymorphism persisting under long-term balancing selection. However, we still do not understand their evolution and persistence, especially in the face of accumulation of deleterious elements. Here, we show that an overdominant supergene in seaweed flies, Coelopa frigida, modulates male traits, potentially facilitating disassortative mating and promoting intraspecific polymorphism. Across two continents, the Cf-Inv(1) supergene strongly affected the composition of male cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) but only weakly affected CHC composition in females. Using gas chromatography-electroantennographic detection, we show that females can sense male CHCs and that there may be differential perception between genotypes. Combining our phenotypic results with RNA-seq data, we show that candidate genes for CHC biosynthesis primarily show differential expression for Cf-Inv(1) in males but not females. Conversely, candidate genes for odorant detection were differentially expressed in both sexes but showed high levels of divergence between supergene haplotypes. We suggest that the reduced recombination between supergene haplotypes may have led to rapid divergence in mate preferences as well as increasing linkage between male traits, and overdominant loci. Together this probably helped to maintain the polymorphism despite deleterious effects in homozygotes.

Mérot, Claire (author)
Mozuraitis, Raimondas,1963-Stockholms universitet,Zoologiska institutionen,Institutionen för ekologi, miljö och botanik,Institute of Ecology, Nature Research Centre, Lithuania(Swepub:su)rmozu (author)
Apšegaitė, Violeta (author)
Bernatchez, Louis (author)
Martens, Gerrit A. (author)
Radž Iutė, Sandra (author)
Pavia, Henrik,1964Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för marina vetenskaper, Tjärnö marinlaboratoriet,Department of marine sciences, Tjärnö Marine Laboratory(Swepub:gu)xpavhe (author)
Berdan, Emma L,1983Gothenburg University,Göteborgs universitet,Institutionen för marina vetenskaper, Tjärnö marinlaboratoriet,Department of marine sciences, Tjärnö Marine Laboratory(Swepub:gu)xberdj (author)
Radziute, Sandra (author)
Göteborgs universitetInstitutionen för marina vetenskaper, Tjärnö marinlaboratoriet (creator_code:org_t)

In:Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences290:20080962-84521471-2954

By the author/editor: Enge, Swantje; Mérot, Claire; Mozuraitis, Raim ...; Apšegaitė, Viole ...; Bernatchez, Loui ...; Martens, Gerrit ...; show more...; Radž Iutė, Sandr ...; Pavia, Henrik, 1 ...; Berdan, Emma L, ...; Radziute, Sandra; show less...

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