Title: "Reproductive success and the genetic basis for natural variation in sexually selected traits"
Speaker: Anthony Fuimera, Ph.D.; Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University, NY
Place: Mechanical Engineering (ME) 161; September 4, 2007, Tuesday, 4:30pm

Abstract

Reproduction is a critical fitness component and under strong selective pressures. By characterizing who is successful at reproducing and mapping the genetic mechanisms underlying those differences, we can begin to understand patterns of genetic variation within populations and the mechanisms maintaining genetic diversity. I applied evolutionary genomic approaches to elucidate the genetic basis to natural variation for traits affecting post-copulatory sexual selection using Drosophila melanogaster. I used linkage disequilibrium mapping to identify naturally occurring alleles of male and female reproductive genes that associate with traits affecting reproductive fitness. Polymorphisms in several male seminal fluid proteins affect a male's success in sperm competition and polymorphisms in female odorant binding proteins associate with her propensity to remate. A variety of evolutionary forces, including mutation-selection balance, balancing selection and adaptive evolution appear to be shaping patterns of diversity at the underlying genes. I will also briefly discuss how parentage studies can be used in natural populations to make inferences about population level parameters such as age-specific reproductive success, estimates of genetic variances or be used in conjunction with association testing to map important genes in nature.



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