Phenotypic variation and covariation indicate high evolvability of acoustic communication in crickets

Studying the genetic architecture of sexual traits provides insight into the rate and direction at which traits can respond to selection. Traits associated with few loci and limited genetic and phenotypic constraints tend to evolve at high rates typically observed for secondary sexual characters. Here, we examined the genetic architecture of song traits and female song preferences in the field crickets Gryllus rubens and G. texensis. Song and preference data were collected from both species and interspecific F1 and F2 hybrids. We first analysed phenotypic variation to examine interspecific differentiation and trait distributions in parental and hybrid generations. Then, the relative contribution of additive and additive-dominance variation was estimated. Finally, phenotypic variance-covariance (P) matrices were estimated to evaluate the multivariate phenotype available for selection. Song traits and preferences had unimodal trait distributions and hybrid offspring were intermediate with...探究有性性状的遗传架构（genetic architecture），有助于理解性状响应选择的速率与方向。受少数基因座调控、且遗传与表型限制较弱的性状，通常演化速率较快——这类情况常见于次级性征（secondary sexual characters）中。本研究以红田蟋（Gryllus rubens）与德克萨斯田蟋（Gryllus texensis）为对象，分析其鸣唱性状与雌性鸣唱偏好的遗传结构。研究采集了两个亲本物种及其种间F1、F2杂交后代的鸣唱性状与偏好数据。首先通过分析表型变异，探究亲本与杂交世代间的种间分化及性状分布特征；随后，估算了加性遗传变异与加性-显性遗传变异的相对贡献；最后，估算表型方差-协方差（P）矩阵，以评估可供选择作用的多变量表型组。鸣唱性状与偏好均呈现单峰分布，杂交后代的表型呈中间型……