scholarly journals Loss of wings induces the expression of the worker-like phenotype in queens of a ponerine ant

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Pyenson ◽  
Christopher Albin-Brooks ◽  
Corinne Burhyte ◽  
Jürgen Liebig
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Insect Species ◽  
Essential Difference ◽  
Chemical Signaling ◽  
Eusocial Insect ◽  
Ponerine Ant ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Worker Dimorphism

Many highly-eusocial insect species are characterized by morphological differences between females. This is especially pronounced in ants where queens usually possess a fully developed thorax with wings and are specialized for reproduction while workers have a reduced thorax without wings and show various levels of reproductive degeneration that is associated with their helper role in the colony. Despite their morphological differentiation, queens and workers still show some plasticity leading to overlapping behavioral and physiological phenotypes. We investigated the level of queen plasticity and the factor that induces a worker-like phenotype in the ant species Harpegnathos saltator that has limited queen-worker dimorphism and workers that can assume the reproductive role of a queen in the colony. By comparing alate and dealate young queens, so-called gynes, we found that the loss of wings initiated the expression of behavioral and physiological characteristics of ant workers. In contrast to alate gynes, dealate gynes displayed higher frequencies of worker-like behaviors. In addition, dealate gynes showed a worker-like range of reproductive states unlike alate gynes. Like workers, dealate gynes lost the chemical signaling that is characteristic of alate gynes. Since gynes can activate this worker-like phenotype after wing loss, the essential difference between the ant queens and workers in this species with limited queen-worker dimorphism is a dispersal polyphenism. If the phenotypic plasticity observed in H. saltator is representative of the early stages of ant eusociality, an emerging dispersal dimorphism rather than a distinct reproductive dimorphism might represent one of the first steps in ant evolution.

Role of phenotypic plasticity in morphological differentiation between watersnake populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-337
Author(s):  
Ian T. CLIFTON ◽  
Jeremy D. CHAMBERLAIN ◽  
Matthew E. GIFFORD
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Morphological Differentiation

The role of hormones

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Frederik Nijhout ◽  
Emily Laub
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Reproductive Behavior ◽  
Hormonal Control ◽  
Plastic Trait

Many behaviors of insects are stimulated, modified, or modulated by hormones. The principal hormones involved are the same as the ones that control moulting, metamorphosis, and other aspects of development, principally ecdysone and juvenile hormone. In addition, a small handful of neurosecretory hormones are involved in the control of specific behaviors. Because behavior is a plastic trait, this chapter begins by outlining the biology and hormonal control of phenotypic plasticity in insects, and how the hormonal control of behavior fits in with other aspects of the control of phenotypic plasticity. The rest of the chapter is organized around the diversity of behaviors that are known to be controlled by or affected by hormones. These include eclosion and moulting behavior, the synthesis and release of pheromones, migration, parental care, dominance, reproductive behavior, and social behavior.

scholarly journals Landscape resistance constrains hybridization across contact zones in a reproductively and morphologically polymorphic salamander

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Velo-Antón ◽  
André Lourenço ◽  
Pedro Galán ◽  
Alfredo Nicieza ◽  
Pedro Tarroso
Keyword(s):  
Contact Zone ◽  
Environmental Heterogeneity ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Hybrid Zones ◽  
Landscape Resistance ◽  
Phenotypic Differentiation ◽  
Contact Zones

AbstractExplicitly accounting for phenotypic differentiation together with environmental heterogeneity is crucial to understand the evolutionary dynamics in hybrid zones. Species showing intra-specific variation in phenotypic traits that meet across environmentally heterogeneous regions constitute excellent natural settings to study the role of phenotypic differentiation and environmental factors in shaping the spatial extent and patterns of admixture in hybrid zones. We studied three environmentally distinct contact zones where morphologically and reproductively divergent subspecies of Salamandra salamandra co-occur: the pueriparous S. s. bernardezi that is mostly parapatric to its three larviparous subspecies neighbours. We used a landscape genetics framework to: (i) characterise the spatial location and extent of each contact zone; (ii) assess patterns of introgression and hybridization between subspecies pairs; and (iii) examine the role of environmental heterogeneity in the evolutionary dynamics of hybrid zones. We found high levels of introgression between parity modes, and between distinct phenotypes, thus demonstrating the evolution to pueriparity alone or morphological differentiation do not lead to reproductive isolation between these highly divergent S. salamandra morphotypes. However, we detected substantial variation in patterns of hybridization across contact zones, being lower in the contact zone located on a topographically complex area. We highlight the importance of accounting for spatial environmental heterogeneity when studying evolutionary dynamics of hybrid zones.

scholarly journals A comparative study of Pleurosigma subrectum and P. acus (Bacillariophyta)

Phytotaxa ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 207 (3) ◽  
pp. 273
Author(s):  
FRITHJOF A.S. STERRENBURG ◽  
STUART R. STIDOLPH ◽  
EUGENIA A. SAR ◽  
Ines Sunesen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Type Material ◽  
Diatom Species ◽  
Morphological Differences ◽  
Sem Investigation ◽  
Made In

In continuation of an earlier paper on Pleurosigma species with an (almost) non-sigmoid valve and raphe sternum, a comparative study was made in LM and SEM of Pleurosigma subrectum and P. acus. For P. subrectum, slides and a subsample of the type material were examined. For P. acus no unmounted material permitting SEM investigation is extant; a sample containing specimens fully matching the type in LM was therefore used as epitype material for SEM. The original data on striation of P. acus are emended. No morphological differences indicating separate specific status of these two taxa were observed and P. acus is therefore here designated a heterotypic synonym of P. subrectum. From the data now available, this is a very widely distributed species. The study demonstrates the indispensable role of collections for investigations on the diversity and distribution of diatom species.

Phenotypic plasticity with respect to salt stress response by Lotus glaber: the role of its AM fungal and rhizobial symbionts

Mycorrhiza ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 18 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 317-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariela Echeverria ◽  
Agustina Azul Scambato ◽  
Analía Inés Sannazzaro ◽  
Santiago Maiale ◽  
Oscar Adolfo Ruiz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salt Stress ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Salt Stress Response ◽  
Lotus Glaber

Initiation and maintenance of NGF-stimulated neurite outgrowth requires activation of a phosphoinositide 3-kinase

1996 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.R. Jackson ◽  
I.J. Blader ◽  
L.P. Hammonds-Odie ◽  
C.R. Burga ◽  
F. Cooke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neurite Outgrowth ◽  
Pc12 Cells ◽  
Specific Inhibitor ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Sympathetic Neuron ◽  
Neuronal Morphology ◽  
Regulatory Subunit ◽  
Membrane Reorganization ◽  
Phosphoinositide 3 Kinase

Application of nerve growth factor (NGF) to PC12 cells stimulates a programme of physiological changes leading to the development of a sympathetic neuron like phenotype, one aspect of which is the development of a neuronal morphology characterised by the outgrowth of neuritic processes. We have investigated the role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase in NGF-stimulated morphological differentiation through two approaches: firstly, preincubation with wortmannin, a reputedly specific inhibitor of phosphoinositide kinases, completely inhibited initial morphological responses to NGF, the formation of actin filament rich microspikes and subsequent neurite outgrowth. This correlated with wortmannin inhibition of NGF-stimulated phosphatidylinositol(3,4,5)trisphosphate (PtdInsP3) and phosphatidylinositol(3,4)bisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4)P2) production and with inhibition of NGF-stimulated phosphoinositide 3-kinase activity in anti-phosphotyrosine immunoprecipitates. Secondly, the overexpression of a mutant p85 regulatory subunit of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase, which cannot interact with the catalytic p110 subunit, also substantially inhibited the initiation of NGF-stimulated neurite outgrowth. In addition, we found that wortmannin caused a rapid collapse of more mature neurites formed following several days exposure of PC12 cells to NGF. These results indicate that NGF-stimulated neurite outgrowth requires the activity of a tyrosine kinase regulated PI3-kinase and suggest that the primary product of this enzyme, PtdInsP3, is a necessary second messenger for the cytoskeletal and membrane reorganization events which occur during neuronal differentiation.

scholarly journals The novel ECF56 SigG1-RsfG system modulates morphological differentiation and metal-ion homeostasis in Streptomyces tsukubaensis

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rute Oliveira ◽  
Matthew J. Bush ◽  
Sílvia Pires ◽  
Govind Chandra ◽  
Delia Casas-Pastor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Metal Ion ◽  
Ion Homeostasis ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Copper Trafficking ◽  
Streptomyces Tsukubaensis ◽  
Metal Ion Homeostasis ◽  
Σ Factor ◽  
Domain Organisation

AbstractExtracytoplasmic function (ECF) sigma factors are key transcriptional regulators that prokaryotes have evolved to respond to environmental challenges. Streptomyces tsukubaensis harbours 42 ECFs to reprogram stress-responsive gene expression. Among them, SigG1 features a minimal conserved ECF σ2–σ4 architecture and an additional C-terminal extension that encodes a SnoaL_2 domain, which is characteristic for ECF σ factors of group ECF56. Although proteins with such domain organisation are widely found among Actinobacteria, the functional role of ECFs with a fused SnoaL_2 domain remains unknown. Our results show that in addition to predicted self-regulatory intramolecular amino acid interactions between the SnoaL_2 domain and the ECF core, SigG1 activity is controlled by the cognate anti-sigma protein RsfG, encoded by a co-transcribed sigG1-neighbouring gene. Characterisation of ∆sigG1 and ∆rsfG strains combined with RNA-seq and ChIP-seq experiments, suggests the involvement of SigG1 in the morphological differentiation programme of S. tsukubaensis. SigG1 regulates the expression of alanine dehydrogenase, ald and the WhiB-like regulator, wblC required for differentiation, in addition to iron and copper trafficking systems. Overall, our work establishes a model in which the activity of a σ factor of group ECF56, regulates morphogenesis and metal-ions homeostasis during development to ensure the timely progression of multicellular differentiation.

scholarly journals Phenotypic plasticity as a long-term memory easing readaptations to ancestral environments

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (21) ◽  
pp. eaba3388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei-Chin Ho ◽  
Diyan Li ◽  
Qing Zhu ◽  
Jianzhi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Phenotypic Plasticity ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Reciprocal Transplant ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Egg Hatchability ◽  
Plastic Changes ◽  
Transcriptomic Changes

Phenotypic plasticity refers to environment-induced phenotypic changes without mutation and is present in all organisms. The role of phenotypic plasticity in organismal adaptations to novel environments has attracted much attention, but its role in readaptations to ancestral environments is understudied. To address this question, we use the reciprocal transplant approach to investigate the multitissue transcriptomes of chickens adapted to the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent lowland. While many genetic transcriptomic changes had occurred in the forward adaptation to the highland, plastic changes largely transform the transcriptomes to the preferred state when Tibetan chickens are brought back to the lowland. The same trend holds for egg hatchability, a key component of the chicken fitness. These findings, along with highly similar patterns in comparable experiments of guppies and Escherichia coli, demonstrate that organisms generally “remember” their ancestral environments via phenotypic plasticity and reveal a mechanism by which past experience affects future evolution.

The Characteristic Function, a Method-Specific Alternative to the Horwitz Function

2012 ◽  
Vol 95 (6) ◽  
pp. 1803-1806 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Detection Limit ◽  
Characteristic Function ◽  
Characteristic Functions ◽  
Mathematical Form ◽  
Essential Difference ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Specific Alternative ◽  
Additional Role

Abstract The Horwitz function is compared with the characteristic function as a descriptor of the precision of individual analytical methods. The Horwitz function describes the trend of reproducibility SDs observed in collaborative trials in the food sector over a wide range of concentrations of the analyte. However, it is imperfectly adaptable for describing the precision of individual methods, which is the role of the characteristic function. An essential difference between the two functions is that the characteristic function can accommodate a detection limit. This makes it a useful alternative when the precision of a method down to a detection limit is of interest. Many characteristic functions have a simple mathematical form, the parameters of which can be estimated with the usual resources. The Horwitz function serves an additional role as a fitness-for-purpose criterion in the form of the Horwitz ratio (HorRat). This use also has some shortcomings. The functional form of the characteristic function (with suitable prescribed parameters) is better adapted to this task.

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