title: Male genotype influences female reproductive investment in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: In many species, males can influence the amount of resources their mates invest in reproduction. Two favoured hypotheses for this observation are that females assess male quality during courtship or copulation and alter their investment in offspring accordingly, or that males manipulate females to invest heavily in offspring produced soon after mating. Here, we examined whether there is genetic variation for males to influence female short-term reproductive investment in Drosophila melanogaster, a species with strong sexual selection and substantial sexual conflict. We measured the fecundity and egg size of females mated to males from multiple isofemale lines collected from populations around the globe. Although these traits were not strongly influenced by the male's population of origin, we found that 22 per cent of the variation in female short-term reproductive investment was attributable to the genotype of her mate. This is the first direct evidence that male D. melanogaster vary genetically in their proximate influence on female fecundity, egg size and overall reproductive investment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9620, USA. alison.pischedda@lifesci.ucsb.edu
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pischedda
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Monica K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: William R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Rice
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D014644:Genetic Variation; D005838:Genotype; D008297:Male; D010063:Ovum / Q000166:cytology; D012098:Reproduction; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal