title: Assortative mating and fertility in two Drosophila subobscura strains with different mitochondrial DNA haplotypes.
abstract: The mating pattern and female fertility on the two main mitochondrial DNA haplotypes (I and II) of Drosophila subobscura were studied, in an attempt to find possible differences between them in relation to sexual selection or isolation that could explain the populational dynamics and the co-existence of these two strains in nature. The mating pattern indicated an assortative mating in population cages, where couples of the same haplotype, mainly those of haplotype I, mated more often. However, the significations detected in laboratory conditions disappeared in wild populations, where random mating was the rule. The female fertility also showed differences in the laboratory compared to the wild, since couples with haplotype I males were more efficient in the laboratory populations. These results, together with others that we previously obtained, either point to selection acting directly on the mtDNA or to the presence of some kind of cytonuclear co-adaptation in these two haplotypes, although this must be modulated by other factors that change with the seasons and time. The end result could well be a balance of opposite forces acting on both haplotypes.
authors.affiliation: Laboratori de Genètica, Departament de Biologia, Facultat de Ciències, Edifici Guillem Colom, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Campus de la UIB, 07122 Palma de Mallorca (Balears), Spain. jose.castro@uib.es
authors.forename: José A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Christie
authors.forename: Antònia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Picornell
authors.forename: Misericòrdia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ramon
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Moya
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000502:physiology; D006239:Haplotypes / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial