Data from: Do males matter? Testing the effects of male genetic background on female meiotic crossover rates in Drosophila melanogaster

Meiotic recombination is a critical genetic process as well as a pivotal evolutionary force. Rates of crossing-over are highly variable within and between species, due to both genetic and environmental factors. Early studies in Drosophila implicated female genetic background as a major determinant of crossover rate and recent work has highlighted male genetic background as a possible mediator as well. Our study employed classical genetics to address how female and male genetic backgrounds individually and jointly affect crossover rates. We measured rates of crossing over in a 33 cM region of the Drosophila melanogaster X chromosome using a two-step crossing scheme exploiting visible markers. In total, we measured crossover rates of 10 inbred lines in a full diallel cross. Our experimental design facilitates measuring the contributions of female genetic background, male genetic background, and female × male genetic background interaction effects on rates of crossing-over in females. Our results indicate that although female genetic background significantly affects female meiotic crossover rates in Drosophila, male genetic background and the interaction of female and male genetic backgrounds have no significant effect. These findings thus suggest that male-mediated effects are unlikely to contribute greatly to variation in recombination rates in natural populations of Drosophila.

减数分裂重组（Meiotic recombination）是关键的遗传过程，亦是核心的进化驱动力。染色体交换率在物种内部及物种间存在显著差异，这一现象由遗传与环境双重因素共同导致。早期针对果蝇（Drosophila）的研究表明，雌性遗传背景是交换率的主要决定因素；而近期研究则指出，雄性遗传背景同样可能作为调控因子发挥作用。本研究采用经典遗传学方法，探究雌性与雄性遗传背景各自及共同对交换率的影响。本研究利用显性标记构建两步杂交方案，对黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）X染色体上一段33厘摩（cM）的区域的交换率进行了测定。本研究通过完全双列杂交（full diallel cross）实验，共计测定了10个近交系的交换率。本实验设计可精准测定雌性遗传背景、雄性遗传背景以及雌雄遗传背景互作效应对雌性个体染色体交换率的贡献程度。研究结果显示，尽管果蝇的雌性遗传背景会显著影响雌性减数分裂交换率，但雄性遗传背景以及雌雄遗传背景的互作效应并未产生显著影响。综上，本研究结果表明，雄性介导的效应不太可能对果蝇自然种群中重组率的变异产生显著贡献。