RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Genetic basis of species-specific genitalia reveals role in species diversification
JF Science Advances
JO Sci Adv
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP eaav9939
DO 10.1126/sciadv.aav9939
VO 5
IS 6
A1 Fujisawa, Tomochika
A1 Sasabe, Masataka
A1 Nagata, Nobuaki
A1 Takami, Yasuoki
A1 Sota, Teiji
YR 2019
UL http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/6/eaav9939.abstract
AB The diversity of genital morphology among closely related animals with internal fertilization is well known, but the genetic backgrounds are unclear. Here, we show that, in Carabus (Ohomopterus) beetles showing correlated evolution of male and female genital parts, only a few major quantitative trait loci (QTLs) determine differences in genital dimensions between sister species, and sequence divergence is pronounced in the genomic regions containing genital QTLs. The major QTLs for male and female genital dimensions reside in different locations within the same linkage group, implying that coevolution between the sexes is only loosely constrained and can respond to sexually antagonistic selection. The same genomic regions containing the major QTLs show elevated divergence between three pairs of parapatric species with marked differences in genital parts. Our study demonstrates that species diversification can follow coevolution of genitalia between the sexes, even without tight linkage of loci affecting male and female genital dimensions.