View Program - 2022 Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics Conference

Interlocus sexual conflict (IRSC) arises when the evolutionary interests of different sexes are in opposition. Most studies of IRSC rely on phenotypic data, alone, leaving gaps in our knowledge of how IRSC functions and evolves. Furthermore, much of the genetic evidence on IRSC that does exist focuses on male rather than female traits. To close some of these knowledge gaps, we used a model organism that exhibits IRSC, Drosophila melanogaster, to identify potential genes involved in female resistance to male-induced harm. Male D. melanogaster have evolved proteins in the seminal fluid that increase their own fitness but decrease the lifespan and fecundity of their female partners. The population we used was the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel (DGRP), a population of over 200 fully sequenced, inbred lines. First, we documented variation among 61 of these inbred lines in how males affected female lifespan and fecundity. Second, in 139 lines, we measured levels of female resistance to fecundity-based harm by crossing them to high-harm and low-harm male lines. Finally, we used the data from the female resistance assays to perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using the DGRP's GWAS pipeline. We identifed over 98,000 significant variants associated with female resistance to male-induced harm, of which 17 variants in ten genes were highly significant and annotated. The 17 top variants included 14 single-nucleotide polymorphisms and three indels. The protein coding genes Shaker, which encodes the structural alpha subunit of a voltage-gated potassium channel, and CG43078, whose function is unknown but is expressed in the adult head, adult heart, and embryonic/larval muscle system, were each associated with three of the top variants. Current work is using the GAL4/UAS system and RNA interference to assess the effects of ten of the top variants on female resistance.

Genome-wide association study of female resistance to male-induced harm in the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel

**Genome-wide association study of female resistance to male-induced harm in the Drosophila Genetics Reference Panel**