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COMPONENTS OF REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION BETWEEN NORTH AMERICAN PHEROMONE STRAINS OF THE EUROPEAN CORN BORER
Author(s) -
Dopman Erik B.,
Robbins Paul S.,
Seaman Abby
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00883.x
Subject(s) - biology , library science , isolation (microbiology) , genealogy , classics , history , computer science , bioinformatics
Of 12 potential reproductive isolating barriers between closely related Z‐ and E‐pheromone strains of the European corn borer moth ( Ostrinia nubilalis ), seven significantly reduced gene flow but none were complete, suggesting that speciation in this lineage is a gradual process in which multiple barriers of intermediate strength accumulate. Estimation of the cumulative effect of all barriers resulted in nearly complete isolation (>99%), but geographic variation in seasonal isolation allowed as much as ∼10% gene flow. With the strongest barriers arising from mate‐selection behavior or ecologically relevant traits, sexual and natural selection are the most likely evolutionary processes driving population divergence. A recent multilocus genealogical study corroborates the roles of selection and gene flow (Dopman et al. 2005), because introgression is supported at all loci besides Tpi , a sex‐linked gene. Tpi reveals strains as exclusive groups, possesses signatures of selection, and is tightly linked to a QTL that contributes to seasonal isolation. With more than 98% of total cumulative isolation consisting of prezygotic barriers, Z and E strains of ECB join a growing list of taxa in which species boundaries are primarily maintained by the prevention of hybridization, possibly because premating barriers evolve during early stages of population divergence.