scholarly journals Host quality induces phenotypic plasticity in a wing polyphenic insect

2018 ◽  
Vol 115 (29) ◽  
pp. 7563-7568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinda Lin ◽  
Yili Xu ◽  
Jianru Jiang ◽  
Mark Lavine ◽  
Laura Corley Lavine
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Brown Planthopper ◽  
Wing Development ◽  
Host Quality ◽  
Rice Plants ◽  
Rice Pest ◽  
Wing Growth

Food quality is a critical environmental condition that impacts an animal’s growth and development. Many insects facing this challenge have evolved a phenotypically plastic, adaptive response. For example, many species of insect exhibit facultative wing growth, which reflects a physiological and evolutionary trade-off between dispersal and reproduction, triggered by environmental conditions. What the environmental cues are and how they are transduced to produce these alternative forms, and their associated ecological shift from dispersal to reproduction, remains an important unsolved problem in evolutionary ecology. In this study, we investigated the role that host quality has on the induction of wing development in a wing polyphenic insect exhibiting strong tradeoffs in investment between dispersal and reproduction, the brown planthopper, a serious rice pest in Asia. As rice plants grow, the short-winged brown planthopper dominates the population, but a shift occurs as the plants mature and senesce in the field such that long-winged brown planthoppers emerge and migrate. It remains unknown how changes in the rice plant induce development of the long-winged morph, despite recent discoveries on the role of the insulin and JNK signaling pathways in wing development. We found that by mimicking the glucose concentration of senescing rice plants, we significantly increased the proportion of long-winged female planthoppers. The effects of glucose on wing morph are additive with previously described effects of density. Our results show that host quality both directly regulates phenotypic plasticity and interacts with other factors such as density to produce the appropriate phenotype for specific environmental conditions.

scholarly journals Caterpillar-induced rice volatiles provide enemy-free space for the offspring of the brown planthopper

eLife ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyun Hu ◽  
Shuangli Su ◽  
Qingsong Liu ◽  
Yaoyu Jiao ◽  
Yufa Peng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Brown Planthopper ◽  
Stem Borer ◽  
Egg Parasitoid ◽  
Field Cage ◽  
Parasitism Rates ◽  
Enemy Free Space ◽  
Rice Pest ◽  
Herbivore Induced Plant Volatiles

Plants typically release large quantities of volatiles in response to herbivory by insects. This benefits the plants by, for instance, attracting the natural enemies of the herbivores. We show that the brown planthopper (BPH) has cleverly turned this around by exploiting herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) that provide safe havens for its offspring. BPH females preferentially oviposit on rice plants already infested by the rice striped stem borer (SSB), which are avoided by the egg parasitoid Anagrus nilaparvatae, the most important natural enemy of BPH. Using synthetic versions of volatiles identified from plants infested by BPH and/or SSB, we demonstrate the role of HIPVs in these interactions. Moreover, greenhouse and field cage experiments confirm the adaptiveness of the BPH oviposition strategy, resulting in 80% lower parasitism rates of its eggs. Besides revealing a novel exploitation of HIPVs, these findings may lead to novel control strategies against an exceedingly important rice pest.

pVHL-mediated SMAD3 degradation suppresses TGF-β signaling

2021 ◽  
Vol 221 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Yasamin Dabiri ◽  
Rodrigo A. Gama-Brambila ◽  
Shahrouz Ghafoory ◽  
Mukaddes Altinbay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Transforming Growth Factor ◽  
Transforming Growth Factor Β ◽  
Tissue Homeostasis ◽  
Wing Development ◽  
Dynamic Regulation ◽  
Drosophila Wing ◽  
Wing Growth ◽  
Expression And Activity

Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling plays a fundamental role in metazoan development and tissue homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanisms concerning the ubiquitin-related dynamic regulation of TGF-β signaling are not thoroughly understood. Using a combination of proteomics and an siRNA screen, we identify pVHL as an E3 ligase for SMAD3 ubiquitination. We show that pVHL directly interacts with conserved lysine and proline residues in the MH2 domain of SMAD3, triggering degradation. As a result, the level of pVHL expression negatively correlates with the expression and activity of SMAD3 in cells, Drosophila wing, and patient tissues. In Drosophila, loss of pVHL leads to the up-regulation of TGF-β targets visible in a downward wing blade phenotype, which is rescued by inhibition of SMAD activity. Drosophila pVHL expression exhibited ectopic veinlets and reduced wing growth in a similar manner as upon loss of TGF-β/SMAD signaling. Thus, our study demonstrates a conserved role of pVHL in the regulation of TGF-β/SMAD3 signaling in human cells and Drosophila wing development.

scholarly journals Climate change, biosystematics and taxonomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 277-287
Author(s):  
M Khairul Alam
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Information Needs ◽  
Adaptive Significance ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Plant Taxon ◽  
History Of ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

The history of biosystematics research and its impacts on climate goes before political ramifications. Climate change is altering the environments and likely to result in changes in the distribution of species, flowering times; migrate and adapt to the new environmental conditions; or extinction. Adaptive capacity is the ability of the plants to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Adaptation process is going in nature through phenotypic plasticity, natural selection or migration or polyploidization. The options are not mutually exclusive. Phenotypic plasticity may be the most efficient way of adaptation to a new environment. Polyploidization may increase tolerance to diverse ecological conditions and the high incidence of polyploidy in plants indicates its adaptive significance. Population having polyploid pillar complex is a good backup support towards microevolution and speciation, a mode of adaptation. The paper discusses about these biosystematics approaches towards adaptation to new environmental conditions resulting from climate change. It also discusses about the role of taxonomists under the changed circumstances. It is evident from the review that a set of biosystematics data along with other ecological and conservation information needs to be included in Flora and Monographs. It reveals that it was as far as worked out at the Paris Botanical Congress 1954 and put up by Stebbins in a series of proposals, termed as “Stebbins’ Ten Points” that needs further enrichment. Bangladesh J. Plant Taxon. 28(1): 277-287, 2021 (June)

scholarly journals Nematode Interactions on Beetle Hosts Indicate a Role of Mouth-Form Plasticity in Resource Competition

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tess Renahan ◽  
Ralf J. Sommer
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Resource Availability ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Resource Competition ◽  
Development Stage ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
La Réunion ◽  
Natural Context ◽  
La Réunion Island

Competition is rampant across kingdoms, arising over potential mates, food resources, and space availability. When faced with opponents, phenotypic plasticity proffers organisms indispensable advantageous strategies to outcompete rivals. This tactic is especially crucial on decaying insect hosts as myriad microbes and numerous nematodes struggle to establish thriving populations and ensure resource availability for future generations. Scarab beetles and their associated nematode symbionts on La Réunion Island have provided exceptional systems to study complicated cross-phylum interactions in soil, and recently we have identified a previously unexplored beetle host, Gymnogaster bupthalma, to be reliably co-infested with diplogastrids Pristionchus mayeri and Acrostichus spp. These nematodes maintain the capacity to plastically respond to environmental conditions by developing disparate mouth forms, a strict bacterial-feeding morph or an omnivorous morph that enables predation on other nematodes. In addition, under stressful settings these worms can enter an arrested development stage called dauer, non-feeding dispersal larvae that resume development into reproducing adults when conditions improve. By investigating this beetle-nematode system in a natural context, we uncovered a novel Pristionchus strategy, wherein dauer dispersal from the carcass is gradual and a reproducing population is sustained. Remarkably, usually preferential-bacterial morph P. mayeri develop as predators in populations dense with competitors.

scholarly journals Beyond buying time: the role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1768) ◽  
pp. 20180174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca J. Fox ◽  
Jennifer M. Donelson ◽  
Celia Schunter ◽  
Timothy Ravasi ◽  
Juan D. Gaitán-Espitia
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
The Future ◽  
Selection For ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Plastic Responses ◽  
Rapid Environmental Change

How populations and species respond to modified environmental conditions is critical to their persistence both now and into the future, particularly given the increasing pace of environmental change. The process of adaptation to novel environmental conditions can occur via two mechanisms: (1) the expression of phenotypic plasticity (the ability of one genotype to express varying phenotypes when exposed to different environmental conditions), and (2) evolution via selection for particular phenotypes, resulting in the modification of genetic variation in the population. Plasticity, because it acts at the level of the individual, is often hailed as a rapid-response mechanism that will enable organisms to adapt and survive in our rapidly changing world. But plasticity can also retard adaptation by shifting the distribution of phenotypes in the population, shielding it from natural selection. In addition to which, not all plastic responses are adaptive—now well-documented in cases of ecological traps. In this theme issue, we aim to present a considered view of plasticity and the role it could play in facilitating or hindering adaption to environmental change. This introduction provides a re-examination of our current understanding of the role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptation and sets the theme issue's contributions in their broader context. Four key themes emerge: the need to measure plasticity across both space and time; the importance of the past in predicting the future; the importance of the link between plasticity and sexual selection; and the need to understand more about the nature of selection on plasticity itself. We conclude by advocating the need for cross-disciplinary collaborations to settle the question of whether plasticity will promote or retard species' rates of adaptation to ever-more stressful environmental conditions. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.

scholarly journals EvEel (evolutionary ecology-based model for eel): a model to explore the role of phenotypic plasticity as an adaptive response of three temperate eels to spatially structured environments

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 1561-1571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilaire Drouineau ◽  
Christian Rigaud ◽  
Françoise Daverat ◽  
Patrick Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Adaptive Response ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Anguilla Anguilla ◽  
Distribution Area ◽  
Heterogeneous Environments ◽  
Larval Drift ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Adaptive Mechanisms

Anguilla anguilla, Anguilla japonica, and Anguilla rostrata are three widely distributed catadromous and semelparous species characterized by a long and passive oceanic larval drift between their marine spawning grounds and nursery areas in continental waters. Their large, spatially heterogeneous environments combined with population panmixia and long and passive larval drift impair the possibility of local adaptation and favour the development of phenotypic plasticity. In this context, we developed EvEel (evolutionary ecology-based model for eel), a model that aims to explore the role of phenotypic plasticity as an adaptive response of eels. Results suggest that the spatial patterns in terms of sex ratio, length-at-silvering, and habitat use observed at both the distribution area and river catchment scales may actually be the result of three adaptive mechanisms to maximize individual fitness in spatially structured environments. We believe that considering phenotypic plasticity as a paradigm is required to develop appropriate models for this species.

The role of ants, especially the fire ant, Solenopsis geminata (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in the biological control of tropical upland rice pests

2002 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 431-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.J. Way ◽  
G. Javier ◽  
K.L. Heong
Keyword(s):  
Biological Control ◽  
Upland Rice ◽  
Brown Planthopper ◽  
Nilaparvata Lugens ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Solenopsis Geminata ◽  
Rice Plants ◽  
Rice Pests ◽  
Predator Complex

AbstractPredatory ants are omnipresent year-round in upland (dryland) rice fields in the Philippines. At least 14 species were identified of which the very aggressive Solenopsis geminata (Fabricius) and also Tapinoma sp. nr indicum Forel usually predominated. Some highly aggressive species, notably Pheidolegeton spp. and Bothriomyrmex dalyi Forel were localized. Solenopsis geminata flourished within many fields, not only during the crop season but also throughout dry season fallows where they remained aggressively predatory. Rice plants infested with brown planthopper Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) were usually found within a few hours and S. geminata workers were quickly recruited to N. lugens aggregates. Predation was usually incomplete and workers began to solicit the few remaining late instar or adult N. lugens survivors. These oviposited but no second generation nymphs appeared. There was a surge of recruited ants at the time of N. lugens egg hatch when surviving adults were also killed. Initially, S. geminata alone killed N. lugens aggregates less quickly than with the whole predator complex but ultimately its sole effect was as great as that of the complex. Scattered N. lugens adults, corresponding to numbers that initially colonize rice plants, were eliminated as quickly by S. geminata alone as by the predator complex. Tapinoma indicum occurring separately or with S. geminata on the same plant contributed to predation of N. lugens especially on young nymphs. Solenopsis geminata attacked other insects on rice notably leaffolders of which 97% mortality was recorded when they were exposed throughout egg and larval stages. The role of S. geminata as a predator of upland rice pests is discussed in the context of known biological control of pests of non-rice dryland crops in the tropics and sub-tropics by S. geminata and other Solenopsis spp.

scholarly journals Ecological adaptation in European eels is based on phenotypic plasticity

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (4) ◽  
pp. e2022620118
Author(s):  
Erik D. Enbody ◽  
Mats E. Pettersson ◽  
C. Grace Sprehn ◽  
Stefan Palm ◽  
Håkan Wickström ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Evolutionary Ecology ◽  
Complex Life Cycle ◽  
Genetic Adaptation ◽  
Relative Role ◽  
Life Stages ◽  
Sargasso Sea ◽  
Panmictic Population ◽  
Freshwater Bodies

The relative role of genetic adaptation and phenotypic plasticity is of fundamental importance in evolutionary ecology [M. J. West-Eberhard, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102 (suppl. 1), 6543–6549 (2005)]. European eels have a complex life cycle, including transitions between life stages across ecological conditions in the Sargasso Sea, where spawning occurs, and those in brackish and freshwater bodies from northern Europe to northern Africa. Whether continental eel populations consist of locally adapted and genetically distinct populations or comprise a single panmictic population has received conflicting support. Here we use whole-genome sequencing and show that European eels belong to one panmictic population. A complete lack of geographical genetic differentiation is demonstrated. We postulate that this is possible because the most critical life stages—spawning and embryonic development—take place under near-identical conditions in the Sargasso Sea. We further show that within-generation selection, which has recently been proposed as a mechanism for genetic adaptation in eels, can only marginally change allele frequencies between cohorts of eels from different geographic regions. Our results strongly indicate plasticity as the predominant mechanism for how eels respond to diverse environmental conditions during postlarval stages, ultimately solving a long-standing question for a classically enigmatic species.

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