Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on March 1, 2006.

Genetics, Vol. 173, 215-223, May 2006, Copyright © 2006
doi:10.1534/genetics.105.052993

The Genetic Basis of Prezygotic Reproductive Isolation Between Drosophila santomea and D. yakuba Due to Mating Preference

Amanda J. Moehring^*,1, Ana Llopart^,2, Susannah Elwyn^,3, Jerry A. Coyne and Trudy F. C. Mackay^*

^* Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695 and Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637

¹ Corresponding author: DCMB Group/Biology Department, Box 91000, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708.
E-mail: ajmoehring{at}gmail.com

Sexual isolating mechanisms that act before fertilization are often considered the most important genetic barriers leading to speciation in animals. While progress has been made toward understanding the genetic basis of the postzygotic isolating mechanisms of hybrid sterility and inviability, little is known about the genetic basis of prezygotic sexual isolation. Here, we map quantitative trait loci (QTL) contributing to prezygotic reproductive isolation between the sibling species Drosophila santomea and D. yakuba. We mapped at least three QTL affecting discrimination of D. santomea females against D. yakuba males: one X-linked and one autosomal QTL affected the likelihood of copulation, and a second X chromosome QTL affected copulation latency. Three autosomal QTL also affected mating success of D. yakuba males with D. santomea. No epistasis was detected between QTL affecting sexual isolation. The QTL do not overlap between males and females and are not disproportionately concentrated on the X chromosome. There was some overlap in map locations of QTL affecting sexual isolation between D. santomea and D. yakuba with QTL affecting sexual isolation between D. simulans and D. mauritiana and with QTL affecting differences in pigmentation between D. santomea and D. yakuba. Future high-resolution mapping and, ultimately, positional cloning, will reveal whether these traits do indeed have a common genetic basis.

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