title: QTL analysis of the photoperiodic response and clinal distribution of period alleles in Nasonia vitripennis.
abstract: In seasonal environments, organisms synchronize their life cycle with the annual cycle of environmental factors. In many insect species, this includes a diapause response: a timed dormant stage that allows to survive harsh winter conditions. Previously, we have shown that larval diapause in the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis is induced by the mother upon exposure to a threshold number of short photoperiods (named switch point) and diapause response follows a latitudinal cline in natural populations. Here, we present a QTL analysis using two lines derived from the extremes of this clinal distribution: a northern line from Oulu, Finland and a southern line from Corsica, France. A genomic region on chromosome 1 and one on chromosome 5 were found to be associated with photoperiodic diapause induction. Interestingly, these regions contain the putative clock genes period, cycle (chromosome 1) and cryptochrome (chromosome 5). An analysis of period polymorphisms in seven European populations showed a clinal distribution of two main haplotypes that correlate with the latitudinal cline for diapause induction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, UNIL-Sorge, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland. silvia.paolucci@unil.ch.|Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands. silvia.paolucci@unil.ch.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paolucci
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.|Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), PO Box 50, 6700 AB, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Salis
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.|Department of Pulmonary Diseases, University Medical Center Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9700 RB, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Cornelis J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Vermeulen
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Leo W
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Beukeboom
authors.affiliation: Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Nijenborgh 7, 9747 AG, Groningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van de Zande
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D056926:CLOCK Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D000074767:Diapause; D005387:Finland; D005602:France; D006927:Hymenoptera / Q000235:genetics*; D017440:Photoperiod; D040641:Quantitative Trait Loci
chemical_list: D056926:CLOCK Proteins
keywords: Nasonia vitripennis; clock genes; diapause; latitudinal cline; photoperiodism