The evolution of reproductive isolation in a simultaneous hermaphrodite, the freshwater snail Physa

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The cosmopolitan freshwater snail <it>Physa acuta </it>has recently found widespread use as a model organism for the study of mating systems and reproductive allocation. Mitochondrial DNA phylogenies suggest that <it>Physa carolinae</it>, recently described from the American southeast, is a sister species of <it>P. acuta</it>. The divergence of the <it>acuta/carolinae </it>ancestor from the more widespread <it>P. pomilia </it>appears to be somewhat older, and the split between a hypothetical <it>acuta/carolinae/pomilia </it>ancestor and <it>P. gyrina </it>appears older still.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we report the results of no-choice mating experiments yielding no evidence of hybridization between <it>gyrina </it>and any of four other populations (<it>pomilia, carolinae</it>, Philadelphia <it>acuta</it>, or Charleston <it>acuta</it>), nor between <it>pomilia </it>and <it>carolinae</it>. Crosses between <it>pomilia </it>and both <it>acuta </it>populations yielded sterile F1 progeny with reduced viability, while crosses between <it>carolinae </it>and both <it>acuta </it>populations yielded sterile F1 hybrids of normal viability. A set of mate-choice tests also revealed significant sexual isolation between <it>gyrina </it>and all four of our other <it>Physa </it>populations, between <it>pomilia </it>and <it>carolinae</it>, and between <it>pomilia </it>and Charleston <it>acuta</it>, but not between <it>pomilia </it>and the <it>acuta </it>population from Philadelphia, nor between <it>carolinae </it>and either <it>acuta </it>population. These observations are consistent with the origin of hybrid sterility prior to hybrid inviability, and a hypothesis that speciation between <it>pomilia </it>and <it>acuta </it>may have been reinforced by selection for prezygotic reproductive isolation in sympatry.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We propose a two-factor model for the evolution of postzygotic reproductive incompatibility in this set of five <it>Physa </it>populations consistent with the Dobzhansky-Muller model of speciation, and a second two-factor model for the evolution of sexual incompatibility. Under these models, species trees may be said to correspond with gene trees in American populations of the freshwater snail, <it>Physa</it>.</p

Data for: The causal relationship between sexual selection and sexual size dimorphism in marine gastropods

The different sheets represent different data from different location species and years. Each data set has its own control variables (codification is placed at the righ side of the table). They represent a representative sample of mating and corresponding unmated specimend with the sex and size recorded

Data for: The causal relationship between sexual selection and sexual size dimorphism in marine gastropods

The different sheets represent different data from different location species and years. Each data set has its own control variables (codification is placed at the righ side of the table). They represent a representative sample of mating and corresponding unmated specimend with the sex and size recorded.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Simulating natural conditions in the laboratory: A re-examination of sexual isolation between sympatric and allopatric populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura and D. persimilis

Simulating natural conditions in the laboratory poses one of the most significant challenges to behavioral studies. Some authors have argued that laboratory "choice" experiments reflect mate choice in nature more accurately than "no-choice" experiments. A recent choice experiment study questioned the conclusions of several earlier studies by failing to detect a published difference in sexual isolation between populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura, and suggested their result was more robust because of the more realistic design. Here, we re-examine the methods and analyses of this recent study, and we find there was indeed a difference in sexual isolation between populations of D. pseudoobscura. We also conduct a more rigorously controlled choice experiment and, in agreement with previous studies, note that D. pseudoobscura females from populations sympatric to their sibling species, D. persimilis, exhibit greater sexual isolation than those from allopatric populations. Our results confirm the existence of a geographic pattern in sexual isolation in D. pseudoobscura, and we discuss differences in experimental designs in light of the biology of this species

Intron sequences of arginine kinase in an intertidal snail suggest an ecotype-specific selective sweep and a gene duplication

Many species with restricted gene flow repeatedly respond similarly to local selection pressures. To fully understand the genetic mechanisms behind this process, the phylogeographic history of the species (inferred from neutral markers) as well as the loci under selection need to be known. Here we sequenced an intron in the arginine kinase gene (Ark), which shows strong clinal variation between two locally adapted ecotypes of the flat periwinkle, Littorina fabalis. The ‘small-sheltered' ecotype was almost fixed for one haplotype, H1, in populations on both sides of the North Sea, unlike the ‘large-moderately exposed ecotype', which segregated for ten different haplotypes. This contrasts with neutral markers, where the two ecotypes are equally variable. H1 could have been driven to high frequency in an ancestral population and then repeatedly spread to sheltered habitats due to local selection pressures with the colonization of both sides of the North Sea, after the last glacial maximum (∼18 000 years ago). An alternative explanation is that a positively selected mutation, in or linked to Ark, arose after the range expansion and secondarily spread through sheltered populations throughout the distribution range, causing this ecotype to evolve in a concerted fashion. Also, we were able to sequence up to four haplotypes consistently from some individuals, suggesting a gene duplication in Ark