Dietary Change during Development in the Freshwater Calanoid Copepod Epischura lacustris Forbes

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 938-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Chow-Fraser ◽  
C. Kim Wong

The diet of the freshwater calanoid copepod Epischura lacustris from C2 to adult stage was examined with predation experiments, grazing experiments, and stomach content analyses. There was a transition from an exclusively herbivorous diet in early copepodid stages to an omnivorous diet in adults. Laboratory predation experiments revealed that C2 and C3 were incapable of ingesting Bosmina (0.25–0.35 mm), but from C4 to C6, ingestion rate of Bosmina increased with developmental stage. The order or prey selection for adult Epischura was Bosmina over Diaptomus and Cyclops. Grazing rate on small algae (<10 μm) increased with developmental stage. Zooplankton remains were only found in the guts of stages older than C2; cladocerans and crustacean eggs were the most common zooplankton food. Algae with longest linear dimensions greater than 10 μm (e.g. Sphaerocystis, Dinobryon, and diatoms) were common in the guts of all developmental stages of Epischura. The occurrence of small unicells (<10 μm) in the guts decreased with developmental stage.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathon A. Siva-Jothy ◽  
Katy M. Monteith ◽  
Pedro F. Vale

AbstractDeciding where to eat and raise offspring carries important fitness consequences for all animals, especially if foraging, feeding and reproduction increase the risk of exposure to pathogens. In insects with complete metamorphosis, foraging occurs mainly during the larval stage, while oviposition decisions are taken by adult-stage females. Selection for infection avoidance behaviours may therefore be developmentally uncoupled. Using a combination of experimental infections and behavioural choice assays, here we tested if Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies avoid potentially infectious environments at distinct developmental stages. When given conspecific fly carcasses as a food source, larval-stage flies did not discriminate between carcasses that were clean or infected with the pathogenic Drosophila C Virus (DCV), even though scavenging was a viable route of DCV transmission. Adult females however, discriminated between different oviposition sites, laying more eggs near a clean rather than an infectious carcass if they were healthy; DCV-infected females did not discriminate between the two environments. While potentially risky, laying eggs near potentially infectious carcasses was always preferred to sites containing only fly medium. Our findings suggest that infection avoidance can play an important role in how mothers provision their offspring, and underline the need to consider infection avoidance behaviours at multiple life-stages.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuping Li ◽  
Xiaoju Liang ◽  
Xuguo Zhou ◽  
Yu An ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
...  

AbstractGlycyrrhiza, a genus of perennial medicinal herbs, has been traditionally used to treat human diseases, including respiratory disorders. Functional analysis of genes involved in the synthesis, accumulation, and degradation of bioactive compounds in these medicinal plants requires accurate measurement of their expression profiles. Reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) is a primary tool, which requires stably expressed reference genes to serve as the internal references to normalize the target gene expression. In this study, the stability of 14 candidate reference genes from the two congeneric species G. uralensis and G. inflata, including ACT, CAC, CYP, DNAJ, DREB, EF1, RAN, TIF1, TUB, UBC2, ABCC2, COPS3, CS, R3HDM2, were evaluated across different tissues and throughout various developmental stages. More importantly, we investigated the impact of interactions between tissue and developmental stage on the performance of candidate reference genes. Four algorithms, including geNorm, NormFinder, BestKeeper, and Delta Ct, were used to analyze the expression stability and RefFinder, a comprehensive software, provided the final recommendation. Based on previous research and our preliminary data, we hypothesized that internal references for spatio-temporal gene expression are different from the reference genes suited for individual factors. In G. uralensis, the top three most stable reference genes across different tissues were R3HDM2, CAC and TUB, while CAC, CYP and ABCC2 were most suited for different developmental stages. CAC is the only candidate recommended for both biotic factors, which is reflected in the stability ranking for the spatio (tissue)-temporal (developmental stage) interactions (CAC, R3HDM2 and DNAJ). Similarly, in G. inflata, COPS3, R3HDM2 and DREB were selected for tissues, while RAN, COPS3 and CS were recommended for developmental stages. For the tissue-developmental stage interactions, COPS3, DREB and ABCC2 were the most suited reference genes. In both species, only one of the top three candidates was shared between the individual factors and their interactions, specifically, CAC in G. uralensis and COPS3 in G. inflata, which supports our overarching hypothesis. In summary, spatio-temporal selection of reference genes not only lays the foundation for functional genomics research in Glycyrrhiza, but also facilitates these traditional medicinal herbs to reach/maximize their pharmaceutical potential.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hangxia Jin ◽  
Xiaomin Yu ◽  
Qinghua Yang ◽  
Xujun Fu ◽  
Fengjie Yuan

AbstractPhytic acid (PA) is a major antinutrient that cannot be digested by monogastric animals, but it can decrease the bioavailability of micronutrients (e.g., Zn and Fe). Lowering the PA content of crop seeds will lead to enhanced nutritional traits. Low-PA mutant crop lines carrying more than one mutated gene (lpa) have lower PA contents than mutants with a single lpa mutant gene. However, little is known about the link between PA pathway intermediates and downstream regulatory activities following the mutation of these genes in soybean. Consequently, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis using an advanced generation recombinant inbred line with low PA levels [2mlpa (mips1/ipk1)] and a sibling line with homozygous non-mutant alleles and normal PA contents [2MWT (MIPS1/IPK1)]. An RNA sequencing analysis of five seed developmental stages revealed 7945 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the 2mlpa and 2MWT seeds. Moreover, 3316 DEGs were associated with 128 metabolic and signal transduction pathways and 4980 DEGs were annotated with 345 Gene Ontology terms related to biological processes. Genes associated with PA metabolism, photosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, and defense mechanisms were among the DEGs in 2mlpa. Of these genes, 36 contributed to PA metabolism, including 22 genes possibly mediating the low-PA phenotype of 2mlpa. The expression of most of the genes associated with photosynthesis (81 of 117) was down-regulated in 2mlpa at the late seed developmental stage. In contrast, the expression of three genes involved in sucrose metabolism was up-regulated at the late seed developmental stage, which might explain the high sucrose content of 2mlpa soybeans. Furthermore, 604 genes related to defense mechanisms were differentially expressed between 2mlpa and 2MWT. In this study, we detected a low PA content as well as changes to multiple metabolites in the 2mlpa mutant. These results may help elucidate the regulation of metabolic events in 2mlpa. Many genes involved in PA metabolism may contribute to the substantial decrease in the PA content and the moderate accumulation of InsP3–InsP5 in the 2mlpa mutant. The other regulated genes related to photosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, and defense mechanisms may provide additional insights into the nutritional and agronomic performance of 2mlpa seeds.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Ciccazzo ◽  
Alfonso Esposito ◽  
Eleonora Rolli ◽  
Stefan Zerbe ◽  
Daniele Daffonchio ◽  
...  

The rhizosphere effect on bacterial communities associated with three floristic communities (RW, FI, and M sites) which differed for the developmental stages was studied in a high-altitude alpine ecosystem. RW site was an early developmental stage, FI was an intermediate stage, M was a later more matured stage. The N and C contents in the soils confirmed a different developmental stage with a kind of gradient from the unvegetated bare soil (BS) site through RW, FI up to M site. The floristic communities were composed of 21 pioneer plants belonging to 14 species. Automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis showed different bacterial genetic structures per each floristic consortium which differed also from the BS site. When plants of the same species occurred within the same site, almost all their bacterial communities clustered together exhibiting a plant species effect. Unifrac significance value (P<0.05) on 16S rRNA gene diversity revealed significant differences (P<0.05) between BS site and the vegetated sites with a weak similarity to the RW site. The intermediate plant colonization stage FI did not differ significantly from the RW and the M vegetated sites. These results pointed out the effect of different floristic communities rhizospheres on their soil bacterial communities.


2006 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 477 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. De la Rosa ◽  
A. I. Kiran ◽  
D. Barranco ◽  
L. León

The juvenile period represents a serious impediment in olive breeding programs. Seedlings with long juvenile period are of very low interest for the breeder because their evaluation considerably delays the first stages of the breeding process. For this reason, the influence of seedling vigour (measured as plant height or stem diameter) on the characteristics at the adult stage was studied to establish useful negative preselection criteria on the basis of that relationship. Olive progenies from crosses and open pollinations of 12 different parents carried out in 1998 and 1999 were evaluated in the greenhouse and, afterwards, during the first 3 years of bearing in the open field. The results obtained indicate that early evaluation and selection for juvenile period can be performed at the seedling stage in olive progenies on the basis of vigour measurements. Selection for short juvenile period was valid irrespective of parentage and, therefore, could be efficient in a general context. No relationship between juvenile period and yield or fruit traits was found so that this preselection criterion would have no adverse effects on these characters.


1985 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-98
Author(s):  
C F Brunk ◽  
R K Conover

After conjugation in Tetrahymena thermophila, the old macronuclei degenerate, and new macronuclei (anlagen) develop. During anlagen development a number of DNA sequences found in the micronuclear genome (micronuclear limited sequences) are eliminated from the anlagen. A cloned copy of a repetitive micronuclear limited sequence has been used to determine the developmental stage at which micronuclear limited sequences are eliminated. DNAs from anlagen of various developmental stages were examined by Southern analysis. It was found that micronuclear limited sequences are present in 4C anlagen and essentially absent in 8C and 16C anlagen. The precipitous loss of these sequences in the 8C anlagen rules out under-replication as the mechanism for the loss and suggests that these sequences are specifically degraded early during anlagen development.


2003 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 515-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mozart da Silva Lauxen ◽  
Eliane Kaltchuk- Santos ◽  
Ching -yeh Hu ◽  
Sidia Maria Callegari- Jacques ◽  
Maria Helena Bodanese-Zanettini

This study was carried out to establish the association between floral bud size and the corresponding microspore developmental stages for Brazilian soybean cultivars. Microspore developmental stage distributions were examined in young buds from cv Década, IAS5 and RS7. The data indicated that for a given bud-size group, the microspores of different cultivars were at different developmental stages, with cv RS7 and Década distributed at the youngest and cv IAS5 at the most advanced stages. Microspore stages distribution were also compared among the ten anthers of the same bud of the above cultivars. The ten anthers from a given bud were clearly distributed at different developmental stages. Caution should be exercised when adopting the standard anther culture practice of using the microspore stage of one anther to represent the entire bud.


1992 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. G. M. Swarnakumari ◽  
R. Madhavi

ABSTRACTFifty day-old chicks were each infected with 10 excysted metaccreariae of Philophthalimus nocturnus Looss. 1907 around each orbit and growth, development and allometry were studied. The growth rate showed two phases over a period of 35 days, a limited lag phase lasting two days post-infection in which flukes did not exceed 440 μm in length, and a rapid phase during which growth was rapid and flukes reached a size of 3·008–3·504 mm on day 35. Five developmental stages were noticed during the course of development of the metacercaria to the egg-producing adult stage. Eggs appeared in the uterus on day 14 and oculate miracidia on day 25. The hindhody, testes and ovary showed positive allometric growth, the pharnyx less so, whereas negative allometric growth was shown by the forebody. Body width, oral sucker and ventral sucker were close to isometry, growing at the same rate as the body length.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 2149-2153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y Feng ◽  
L E Gunter ◽  
E L Organ ◽  
D R Cavener

The importance to in vivo translation of sequences immediately upstream of the Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) start codon was examined at two developmental stages. Mutations were introduced into the Adh gene in vitro, and the mutant gene was inserted into the genome via germ line transformation. An A-to-T substitution at the -3 position did not affect relative translation rates of the ADH protein at the second-instar larval stage but resulted in a 2.4-fold drop in translation of ADH at the adult stage. A second mutant gene, containing five mutations in the region -1 to -9, was designed to completely block translation initiation. However, transformant lines bearing these mutations still exhibit detectable ADH, albeit at substantially reduced levels. The average fold reduction at the second-instar larval stage was 5.9, while at the adult stage a 12.5-fold reduction was observed.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Xiong ◽  
Brajesh K. Singh ◽  
Ji-Zheng He ◽  
Yan-Lai Han ◽  
Pei-Pei Li ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundPlants live with diverse microbial communities which profoundly affect multiple facets of host performance such as nutrition acquisition, disease suppression and productivity, but if and how host development impacts the assembly, functions and microbial interactions of crop microbiomes are poorly understood. Here we examined both bacterial and fungal communities across soils (rhizosphere and bulk soil), plant epiphytic and endophytic niches (phylloplane, rhizoplane, leaf and root endosphere), and plastic leaf of fake plant (representing environment-originating microbes) at three developmental stages of maize at two contrasting sites, and further explored the potential function of phylloplane microbiomes based on metagenomics.ResultsOur results suggested that plant developmental stage had a much stronger influence on the microbial diversity, composition and interkingdom networks in plant compartment niches than in soils, with the strongest effect in the phylloplane. Air (represented by fake plants) was an important source of phylloplane microbiomes which were co-shaped by both plant development and seasonal environmental factors. Further, we demonstrated that bacterial and fungal communities in plant compartment niches exhibited contrasting response to host developmental stages, with higher alpha diversity and stronger deterministic assembly within bacterial microbiomes at the early stage but a similar pattern within mycobiomes at the late stage. Moreover, we found that bacterial taxa played a more important role in microbial interkingdom network and crop yield prediction at the early stage, while fungal taxa did so at the late stage. Metagenomic analyses further indicated that phylloplane microbiomes possessed higher functional diversity and functional genes involved in nutrient provision and disease resistance at the early stage than the late stage. ConclusionsOur results suggest that host developmental stage profoundly influences plant microbiome assembly and functions, and the bacterial and fungal microbiomes take a differentiated ecological role at different plant development stages. This study provides empirical evidence for host exerting strong effect on plant microbiomes by deterministic selection to meet the physiological requirement of plant developmental stages. These findings have implications for the development of future tools to manipulate microbiome for sustainable increase in primary productivity.


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