2018–2020 project funded by GAČR; project no. 18-08468J „The role of sperm adaptation and sperm plasticity in ecological speciation,“ together with Faculty of Science, Masaryk University (Brno, CZ), Technische Universität Dresden, and Universität Bayreuth (Germany).
Cooperation:
Tomáš Bartonička (Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Brno, CZ)
Klaus Reinhardt (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany)
Oliver Otti (Universität Bayreuth, Germany)
Aims:
The project tests an unexplored scenario of ecological speciation. The traditional scheme considers a selection for a reproduction barrier as a means of maintaining specific adaptations in ecologically divergent populations. Another possibility is a direct influence of the specific environment on gamete phenotype and gamete compatibility between the populations. The species of the common bed bug consists of two independent lineages specialized to bats and humans. We therefore test a possible effect of specific diet on their differentiation.
Methods:
Bed bug breeding using human and bat blood, hybridization tests, lipidomic and proteomic sperm analysis of the bed bug host lineages, measurement of sperm metabolism in different environments, artificial insemination using modified sperm, testing sperm competition.
Results:
Massino et al. 2021 Microscopy Research and Technique
Křemenová et al. 2021 Scientific Reports
Křemenová et al. 2020 Scientific Reports
DeVries et al. 2020 Ecology and Evolution
Wawrocka et al. 2015 Parasitology Research