Cuticular Lipids as a Cross-Talk among Ants, Plants and Butterflies

Barbero, Francesca

doi:10.3390/ijms17121966

Cited by 36 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 143 publications

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“…Many of these genes encode proteins possibly related to interactions with ants, e.g., proteins of oenocyte development. In ants, oenocytes secret cuticular hydrocarbons used to recognize their nestmates (66), and the blues may produce similar chemicals by oenocytes to trick the ants. The ability to secrete the ant-feeding liquid from special glands in a caterpillar should require a number of transporters, and we indeed observe strong positive selection in a number of transporters for sugars, ions, and water.…”

Section: Uneven Evolutionary Rates and Positive Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomics of a complete butterfly continent

Zhang

Cong

Shen

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Never before have we had the luxury of choosing a continent, picking a large phylogenetic group of animals, and obtaining genomic data for its every species. Here, we sequence all 845 species of butterflies recorded from North America north of Mexico. Our comprehensive approach reveals the pattern of diversification and adaptation occurring in this phylogenetic lineage as it has spread over the continent, which cannot be seen on a sample of selected species. We observe bursts of diversification that generated taxonomic ranks: subfamily, tribe, subtribe, genus, and species. The older burst around 70 Mya resulted in the butterfly subfamilies, with the major evolutionary inventions being unique phenotypic traits shaped by high positive selection and gene duplications. The recent burst around 5 Mya is caused by explosive radiation in diverse butterfly groups associated with diversification in transcription and mRNA regulation, morphogenesis, and mate selection. Rapid radiation correlates with more frequent introgression of speciation-promoting and beneficial genes among radiating species. Radiation and extinction patterns over the last 100 million years suggest the following general model of animal evolution. A population spreads over the land, adapts to various conditions through mutations, and diversifies into several species. Occasional hybridization between these species results in accumulation of beneficial alleles in one, which eventually survives, while others become extinct. Not only butterflies, but also the hominids may have followed this path.Butterflies are among the most beloved animals , beautiful and harmless, they have attracted human attention since prehistoric times (1). Being one of the best-studied insects phenotypically (2), butterflies remain largely unexplored by genomics. Until recently, genomic studies of butterflies were confined to a couple of model organisms and pests, such as Heliconius, monarch, and cabbage white, with initial studies leading to groundbreaking insights into mimicry, migration, and toxin resistance (3-5). We have been expanding these efforts on butterfly genomics to cover a broader range of species (6-11). With the rapid decrease in the price of DNA sequencing and the constant development of analytical methods, the time is ripe to sequence the genomes of all butterfly species over a continent.

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Section: Uneven Evolutionary Rates and Positive Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomics of a complete butterfly continent

Zhang

Cong

Shen

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…Worker ants, in general, rely on multimodal, chemical, tactile, visual and acoustic cues for communication with their nestmates (Barbero ). Therefore, myrmecophilous species have developed a variety of effective traits for manipulating ant behaviors (Kitching & Luke ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in the present study, the 7‐C27:1 and 9‐C27:1 treatments significantly enhanced the aggression of worker ants toward the P. rapae larvae, which indicates that the n ‐alkane‐dominated larval CHC profiles are somewhat effective in suppressing ant aggression. Because n ‐alkanes are ubiquitous among the majority of ant CHCs and epicuticular leaf waxes of terrestrial higher plants (Eglinton & Hamilton ; Bush & McInerney ; Barbero ), the dominance of such alkanes among larval CHCs might provide crypsis, by chemically resembling plants (phytomimesis; Akino ). Further studies are needed to determine whether n ‐alkane‐dominated CHC profiles serve as adaptive traits in ant–lycaenid interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Absence of cuticular alkenes allows lycaenid larvae to avoid predation by Formica japonica ants

Morozumi

Murakami

Watanabe

et al. 2019

Entomological Science

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Chemical mimicry and camouflage based on cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are adaptive strategies that are frequently observed in myrmecophilous insects. The larvae of several lycaenid butterfly species that exhibit obligate associations with specific ant species have been reported to use chemical mimicry. However, little is known about the strategies used by the larvae of species that have facultative associations with multiple ant species. We attempted to reveal the effects of larval CHC profiles on interactions with Formica japonica workers, using three lycaenid species, two facultative ant‐associated (Lycaeides argyrognomon and Zizeeria maha) and one non‐ant‐associated (Lycaena phlaeas), which commonly possess n‐alkanes as the major CHCs. In field bioassays, the lycaenid larvae were attacked by ant workers less often than larvae of Papilio polytes (Papilionidae), the CHCs of which were rich in 7‐alkenes. Treating the lycaenid larvae with 7‐heptacosene and 9‐heptacosene significantly activated ant aggression (biting), whereas treating them with n‐heptacosane, n‐octacosane and 13‐methylheptacosane had little effect. Furthermore, larvae of Pieris rapae (Pieridae), possessing n‐alkanes as the dominant CHCs, suffered an intermediate level of ant biting between the lycaenid and Pa. polytes larvae. However, treatments of the P. rapae larvae with 7‐heptacosene and 9‐heptacosene significantly affected the frequency of ant biting. These findings suggest that the absence of alkenes in larval CHC profiles is an effective means of circumventing predation by ants and allows lycaenid larvae to inhabit the foraging territory of predaceous ants, at least to some extent.

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“…Caterpillars of some Maculinea species are adopted by certain Myrmica species, transported into their nest, and fed on either ant regurgitations (trophallaxis) or directly on ant brood [65]. The central role of CHCs and acoustic signals in the crosstalk between butterflies and ants is well-known [66]. The possibility that symbiotic microorganisms living on butterflies and ants may influence this host-parasite interaction by either CHC metabolism or MVOC production has recently brought the study of the butterfly and ant microbiota to attention [67,68].…”

Section: Bacteria and Interspecies Insect Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial Semiochemicals and Transkingdom Interactions with Insects and Plants

Calcagnile

Tredici

Talà

et al. 2019

Insects

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A peculiar feature of all living beings is their capability to communicate. With the discovery of the quorum sensing phenomenon in bioluminescent bacteria in the late 1960s, it became clear that intraspecies and interspecies communications and social behaviors also occur in simple microorganisms such as bacteria. However, at that time, it was difficult to imagine how such small organisms—invisible to the naked eye—could influence the behavior and wellbeing of the larger, more complex and visible organisms they colonize. Now that we know this information, the challenge is to identify the myriad of bacterial chemical signals and communication networks that regulate the life of what can be defined, in a whole, as a meta-organism. In this review, we described the transkingdom crosstalk between bacteria, insects, and plants from an ecological perspective, providing some paradigmatic examples. Second, we reviewed what is known about the genetic and biochemical bases of the bacterial chemical communication with other organisms and how explore the semiochemical potential of a bacterium can be explored. Finally, we illustrated how bacterial semiochemicals managing the transkingdom communication may be exploited from a biotechnological point of view.

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Cuticular Lipids as a Cross-Talk among Ants, Plants and Butterflies

Cited by 36 publications

References 143 publications

Genomics of a complete butterfly continent

Genomics of a complete butterfly continent

Absence of cuticular alkenes allows lycaenid larvae to avoid predation by Formica japonica ants

Bacterial Semiochemicals and Transkingdom Interactions with Insects and Plants

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