Differential gene expression and misregulation in Laupala kohalensis x Laupala paranigra F2 hybrids. Laupala

Changes in gene expression are a well-established mechanism for generating trait variation and have often been connected to the speciation process (Davidson & Balakrishnan, 2016; Rossi et al., 2020; Shi et al., 2012; Wu et al., 2019). Genetic incompatibilities resulting from the breaking up of coadapted gene complexes may underlie much of the postzygotic isolation in divergent and diverging lineages (Landry et al., 2005; McManus et al., 2010). Modelling suggests that misexpression should arise more quickly in the context of strong adaptive selection, although recent studies examining gene expression inheritance in hybrids show mixed results and so teasing apart patterns of gene expression inheritance in hybrids is important to our understanding of the speciation process (Johnson & Porter, 2000; Tulchinsky et al., 2014; Banho et al., 2021; Yazdi et al., 2022). In this study, we examine gene expression patterns in two phenotypically distinct species of Laupala crickets and their F2 hybrids in order to test the hypotheses that 1.) fast and slow singing hybrids have gene expression profiles more closely resembling the parental species with similar pulse rate phenotypes, and 2.) hybrids should show low levels of misexpression. Finally, we attempt to identify candidate genes underlying pulse rate variation by mapping differentially expressed genes to previously identified QTL regions associated with pulse rate variation in L. kohalensis and L. paranigra.