Wing shape evolution is not constrained by ancestral genetic covariances in the invasive Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

The extent to which phenotypic evolution can be constrained by genetic correlations is an important question in evolutionary biology. To address this question, biological invasions are opportune models where derived, invasive populations can be compared to their extant ancestors, allowing to track the evolution of genetic correlations from the ancestor, throughout the invasion process. In this paper, we focused on the worldwide invasion of Drosophila suzukii (Matsumara, 1931), and investigated the evolution of the genetic covariance matrix G of wing shape between ancestral native, and derived invasive populations. Leveraging demographic history resolved by population genetics approaches, we tested whether G remained stable during the invasion. Using a multivariate QST-FST approach, we further tested whether or not the observed phenotypic divergence in wing shape aligned with a neutral scenario of evolution. Our results show moderate yet significant quantitative genetic differentiation of wing shape among D. suzukii populations and a relative stability in the structure of G, presenting a roughly spherical shape but slightly different volumes. These characteristics likely reflect the demographic history of populations and suggest a low level of genetic constraint on wing shape evolution. The divergence between populations was greater than expected under a purely neutral model of evolution, compatible with an effect of divergent selection among them. Overall, our study suggests that selection and drift, but not ancestral genetic constraints, affected the early stages of wing shape evolution during D. suzukii invasion.