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SUMMARY:Ecological genetics of life history and host plant adaptation in t
 he Glanville fritillary butterfly - Maaike de Jong - University of Helsink
 i\, Finland
DTSTART:20121023T150000Z
DTEND:20121023T160000Z
UID:TALK37948@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Oskar Brattstrom
DESCRIPTION:To gain a full understanding of the mechanisms underlying fitn
 ess and adaptation\, it is crucial to consider the ecological conditions t
 hat shape evolutionary dynamics in nature. The extent of environmental het
 erogeneity plays a key role in these dynamics and influences genetic and p
 henotypic variation in wild populations. Using the well-studied Glanville 
 fritillary butterfly metapopulation of the Åland Islands in Finland\, we 
 measured life history traits and female host plant preference of wild butt
 erflies in large outdoor population cages and associated trait variation w
 ith SNPs in candidate genes. We discovered a strong association between a 
 genetic polymorphism in a gene of the Cytochrome P450 family and lifetime 
 reproductive output of the butterflies\, the key component of fitness. The
  specific Cyp gene plays an important role in the detoxification of host p
 lant chemicals (allelochemicals) in butterflies and other species. Previou
 s research has shown that the Glanville fritillary Åland population exhib
 its spatial variation in host plant adaptation involving two plant species
 \, Plantago lanceolata and Veronica spicata\, which show differences in al
 lelochemical levels. We show here that the Cyp genotype is associated with
  host plant preference and that there is a strong correlation between Cyp 
 allele frequencies and host plant preference across the Åland Islands. Ou
 r results suggest that the spatial heterogeneity of the habitat may contri
 bute to the maintenance of genetic variation in Cyp through local adaptati
 on.
LOCATION:Main Lecture Theatre\, Department of Zoology
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