Where a female insect chooses to oviposit her eggs should have a profound impact on the fates of her offspring, particularly for larvae with restricted dispersal abilities such as Drosophila melanogaster. An important step in understanding oviposition site preference in D. melanogaster is to assess genetic variation for this trait. Using 20 isofemale lines descended from field-collected females, we performed a common garden experiment. We tested preference for oviposition site by releasing females into cages containing tomato and cornmeal-based media. By comparing egg-laying on one versus the other, we were able to estimate relative preferences for each. We found that while some fly lines oviposited almost exclusively in tomato media, other lines oviposited predominantly in cornmeal-based media. Many showed no preference for either food. These results indicate that there is naturally occurring genetic variation for this trait. Assuming that this is a quantitative trait, we have initiated choice tests with 97 recombinant inbred lines that have been genotyped for molecular markers. We will use these lines to map the quantitative trait loci involved in preference for cornmeal versus tomato-based food.
Species 1: Diptera Drosophilidae Drosophila melanogaster (pomace fly, fruit fly)
Keywords: egg laying, host choice
The ESA 2001 Annual Meeting - 2001: An Entomological Odyssey of ESA