Multi-locus genotyping of stored sperm reveals female remating rates in wild populations of the Queensland fruit fly

Jason Shadmany; Phillip W Taylor; Heng Lin Yeap; Siu Fai Lee

doi:10.1016/j.cris.2022.100040

Multi-locus genotyping of stored sperm reveals female remating rates in wild populations of the Queensland fruit fly

Curr Res Insect Sci. 2022 Jun 7:2:100040. doi: 10.1016/j.cris.2022.100040. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jason Shadmany¹, Phillip W Taylor¹, Heng Lin Yeap², Siu Fai Lee^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Applied BioSciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia.
² CSIRO Land and Water, Black Mountain, ACT, 2601, Australia.

Abstract

Female insects commonly have more than one mate during a breeding period ('polyandry'), storing and using sperm from multiple males. In addition to its evolutionary significance, insect polyandry has practical implications for pest management that relies on the sterile insect technique (SIT). The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt), is a major horticultural pest in Australia, and outbreaks are managed by SIT in some regions. The present study provides the first evidence for polyandry in female B. tryoni from field populations from New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland (QLD) through multi-locus genotyping (ten microsatellite markers in four fluorescent multiplexes) of the stored sperm in ovipositing females. Polyandry level was significantly higher in the NSW collection (80.0 %) than the QLD collection (26.1 %), suggesting substantial regional and/or temporal variation. These findings have important implications for the use of SIT to suppress B. tryoni populations and to eradicate outbreaks.

Keywords: Bactrocera tryoni; Polyandry; microsatellites; sperm genotyping; sterile insect technique.