Blaul, Birgit and Ruther, Joachim (2011) How parasitoid females produce sexy sons: a causal link between oviposition preference, dietary lipids and mate choice in Nasonia. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 278 (1722). pp. 3286-3293. ISSN 0962-8452, 1471-2954
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Sexual selection theory predicts that phenotypic traits used to choose a mate should reflect honestly the quality of the sender and thus, are often costly. Physiological costs arise if a signal depends on limited nutritional resources. Hence, the nutritional condition of an organism should determine both its quality as a potential mate and its ability to advertise this quality to the choosing sex. In insects, the quality of the offspring's nutrition is often determined by the ovipositing female. A causal connection, however, between the oviposition decisions of the mother and the mating chances of her offspring has never been shown. Here, we demonstrate that females of the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis prefer those hosts for oviposition that have been experimentally enriched in linoleic acid (LA). We show by 13 C-labelling that LA from the host diet is a precursor of the male sex pheromone. Consequently, males from LA-rich hosts produce and release higher amounts of the pheromone and attract more virgin females than males from LA-poor hosts. Finally, males from LA-rich hosts possess three times as many spermatozoa as those from LA-poor hosts. Hence, females making the right oviposition decisions may increase both the fertility and the sexual attractiveness of their sons.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | POLYUNSATURATED FATTY-ACIDS; ORIENTAL FRUIT-FLIES; PHYTOPHAGOUS INSECTS; MATING SUCCESS; LINOLEIC-ACID; BACTROCERA-DORSALIS; COURTSHIP PHEROMONE; VEGETABLE FATS; VITRIPENNIS; BIOSYNTHESIS; handicap hypothesis; mother knows best principle; parasitic wasp; phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis; preference-performance hypothesis; sex pheromone |
| Subjects: | 500 Science > 590 Zoological sciences |
| Divisions: | Biology, Preclinical Medicine > Institut für Zoologie > Chemische Ökologie (Prof. Dr. Joachim Ruther) |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 27 May 2020 05:33 |
| Last Modified: | 27 May 2020 05:33 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/19820 |
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