Members of the Culex pipiens complex differ in physiological traits that facilitate their survival in diverse environments. Assortative mating within the complex occurs in some regions where autogenous (the ability to lay a batch of eggs without a blood meal) and anautogenous populations are sympatric, and differences in mating behaviors may be involved. For example, anautogenous populations mate in flight/swarms, while autogenous populations often mate at rest. Here, we characterized flight activity of males and found that anautogenous strain males were crepuscular, while autogenous strain males were crepuscular and nocturnal, with earlier activity onset times. We conducted quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping to explore the genetic basis of circadian chronotype (crepuscular vs. crepuscular and nocturnal) and time of activity onset. One major-effect QTL was identified for chronotype, while 3 QTLs were identified for activity onset. The highest logarithm of the odds (LOD) score for the chronotype QTL coincides with a chromosome 3 marker that contains a 15-nucleotide indel within the coding region of the canonical clock gene, cryptochrome 2. Sequencing of this locus in 7 different strains showed that the C-terminus of CRY2 in the autogenous forms contain deletions not found in the anautogenous forms. Consequently, we monitored activity in constant darkness and found males from the anautogenous strain exhibited free running periods of ~24 h while those from the autogenous strain were ~22 h. This study provides novel insights into the genetic basis of flight behaviors that likely reflect adaptation to their distinct ecological niches.

中文翻译：

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QTL 决定雄性淡色库蚊昼夜飞行活性

淡色库蚊复合体的成员具有不同的生理特征，这有利于它们在不同环境中的生存。复合体内的选型交配发生在一些区域，其中自体（无需血粉即可产下一批卵的能力）和自体群体是同域的，并且可能涉及交配行为的差异。例如，自体种群在飞行/群体中交配，而自体种群通常在休息时交配。在这里，我们对雄性的飞行活动进行了表征，发现自体品系雄性是黄昏性的，而自体品性雄性是黄昏性的和夜间活动的，活动开始时间较早。我们进行了数量性状基因座（QTL）作图，以探索昼夜节律时钟类型（黄昏与黄昏和夜间）和活动开始时间的遗传基础。确定了 1 个针对时间型的主效 QTL，同时确定了 3 个针对活动起始的 QTL。时间型 QTL 的最高对数 (LOD) 分数与 3 号染色体标记一致，该标记在规范时钟基因隐花色素 2 的编码区内包含 15 个核苷酸的插入缺失。对该基因座在 7 个不同菌株中的测序表明自体形式中 CRY2 的 C 末端包含自体形式中未发现的缺失。因此，我们在持续黑暗中监测活动，发现自体品系的雄性表现出约 24 小时的自由奔跑期，而自体品系的雄性则表现出约 22 小时。这项研究为飞行行为的遗传基础提供了新的见解，这可能反映了对其独特生态位的适应。