title: Variation in the male pheromones and mating success of wild caught Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Drosophila melanogaster males express two primary cuticular hydrocarbons (male-predominant hydrocarbons). These act as sex pheromones by influencing female receptivity to mating. The relative quantities of these hydrocarbons vary widely among natural populations and can contribute to variation in mating success. We tested four isofemale lines collected from a wild population to assess the effect of intrapopulation variation in male-predominant hydrocarbons on mating success. The receptivity of laboratory females to males of the four wild-caught lines varied significantly, but not consistently in the direction predicted by variation in male-predominant hydrocarbons. Receptivity of the wild-caught females to laboratory males also varied significantly, but females from lines with male-predominant hydrocarbon profiles closer to a more cosmopolitan one did not show a correspondingly strong mating bias toward a cosmopolitan male. Among wild-caught lines, the male-specific ejaculatory bulb lipid, cis-vaccenyl acetate, varied more than two-fold, but was not associated with variation in male mating success. We observed a strong inverse relationship between the receptivity of wild-caught females and the mating success of males from their own lines, when tested with laboratory flies of the opposite sex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological and Physical Sciences, South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States of America. dscott@physics.scsu.edu
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shields
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Straker
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dalrymple
authors.forename: Priya K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Dhillon
authors.forename: Singh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harbinder
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D012724:Sex Attractants / Q000378:metabolism*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D012724:Sex Attractants