Parallel Gene Expression Evolution of Laupala Sword-Tail Crickets. Laupala

Much of the parallel evolution literature focuses on traits driven by few loci of large effect in groups of organisms undergoing adaptive radiations (Simoes et al. 2016; Bolnick et al. 2018). In contrast, relatively little is known about the genetics of parallel evolution of complex quantitative traits, particularly in non-adaptive contexts. Theory predicts that when the traits contributing to reproductive isolation are highly polygenic and not subject to ecological selection pressures, parallel genetic evolution should be less constrained (Chevin et al. 2010; Thompson et al. 2019). Despite this, there is evidence of significant QTL reuse in the Laupala crickets, a non-adaptive species radiation involving highly polygenic behavioral traits. We used RNA sequencing in combination with a collection of interspecies QTL maps to test hypotheses related to the evolution of parallel gene expression underlying parallel evolution of pulse rate behavior.