Abstract
The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a medically important, globally distributed vector of the viruses that cause dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika. Although reproduction and mate choice are key components of vector population dynamics and control, our understanding of the mechanisms of sexual selection in mosquitoes remains poor. In "good genes" models of sexual selection, females use male cues as an indicator of both mate and offspring genetic quality. Recent studies in Ae. aegypti provide evidence that male wingbeats may signal aspects of offspring quality and performance during mate selection in a process known as harmonic convergence. However, the extent to which harmonic convergence may signal overall inherent quality of mates and their offspring remains unknown. To examine this, we measured the relationship between acoustic signaling and a broad panel of parent and offspring fitness traits in two generations of field-derived Ae. aegypti originating from dengue-endemic field sites in Thailand. Our data show that in this population of mosquitoes, harmonic convergence does not signal male fertility, female fecundity, or male flight performance traits, which despite displaying robust variability in both parents and their offspring were only weakly heritable. Together, our findings suggest that vector reproductive control programs should treat harmonic convergence as an indicator of some, but not all aspects of inherent quality, and that sexual selection likely affects Ae. aegypti in a trait-, population-, and environment-dependent manner.
Highlights
Aedes mosquitoes are primarily responsible for the estimated 390 million annual dengue fever virus infections [1] as well as the millions of infections involved in recent yellow fever epidemics in Brazil [2], and chikungunya and Zika outbreaks in the Americas and the Caribbean [3]
We first tested whether harmonic convergence functions as an acoustic signal of overall inherent quality in parents, as predicted in good genes selection models
Sons of converged parents were no more likely to converge than sons of non-converged parents (GZLMM, P = 0.364; Fig 2E)
Summary
Aedes mosquitoes are primarily responsible for the estimated 390 million annual dengue fever virus infections [1] as well as the millions of infections involved in recent yellow fever epidemics in Brazil [2], and chikungunya and Zika outbreaks in the Americas and the Caribbean [3]. The success of such methods depends upon the ability of modified mosquitoes to successfully mate with their natural counterparts. Both modification itself as well as mass-rearing can affect mosquito mating success and compromise the biological efficacy and economic feasibility of otherwise promising disease control programs [12,13,14]. Critical gaps in our present understanding of mosquito sexual selection and mating success limit our ability to fully leverage mosquito mating biology for effective vector control [15]. Recent studies in Ae. aegypti provide evidence that male wingbeats may signal aspects of offspring quality and performance during mate selection in a process known as harmonic convergence. The extent to which harmonic convergence may signal overall inherent quality of mates and their offspring remains unknown
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