Developmental Flexibility, Phenotypic Plasticity, and Host Plants

Greene, Erick; Canfield, Michael R.; Ehmer, A.

doi:10.1201/b10201-5

Cited by 5 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…It has been hypothesised that phenotypically plastic host specialists should develop a few discrete phenotypes using a specific cue for their induction whereas generalists develop a higher number of phenotypes, with the intermediate forms using more than one cue for the induction of different colourations (Greene et al 2009). If the environments a larva may encounter are discrete, and limited in number, one single cue may be sufficient to properly evaluate the selective environment and develop e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, it should be more feasible to evolve to reliably associate e.g. a chemical cue with host appearance if the number of hosts is limited (Greene 1996, Greene et al 2009). For example, the bivoltine larvae of the oak specialist N. arizonaria develop into morphs resembling either catkins or twigs, according to the presence of respective structures in their seasonally changing environment (Greene 1996).…”

Section: Consistency Across Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Phenotypic plasticity in a generalist insect herbivore with the combined use of direct and indirect cues

Sandre

Kaasik

Eulitz

et al. 2013

Oikos

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Ultimate causes of phenotypic plasticity in visual appearance are frequently related to increasing the degree of crypsis in a way specific to the environment. The cues used to elicit such plastic responses may be both direct (i.e. straightforward background matching) as well as indirect. In the latter case, cues other than the visual signals from of the environment are used to predict the phenotype best corresponding to the particular situation. On the basis of a series of laboratory experiments we show that the remarkable variability in the visual appearance of the larvae of the geometrid moth Ematurga atomaria, though genetically based in part, involves a substantial environmental component. Using multiple correspondence analysis, we transformed the multidimensional variation in colour and pattern into two dimensions interpretable as patterning and darkness. Plastic changes in the darkness of the larvae were elicited by direct cues: the larvae were darker when reared on dark host‐plants. Host‐specific degree of patterning was also induced in absolute darkness which indicates the use of an indirect cue. This was unexpected because the study species is broadly polyphagous, and thus not likely to have evolved adaptations specific to particular host‐plant species. Indeed, the larvae of E. atomaria originating from geographic populations using different host‐plants showed analogous plastic responses which indicates that the link between the indirect cue and visual appearance of the host needs not to be specific to plant species. In an additional experiment, we showed that surface roughness is a likely candidate to serve as the proximate cue for determination of some pattern elements, a case not reported for insect larvae earlier.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Consistency Across Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phenotypic plasticity in a generalist insect herbivore with the combined use of direct and indirect cues

Sandre

Kaasik

Eulitz

et al. 2013

Oikos

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“…Greene and colleagues [12,13] showed that the catkin and twig morphs are produced as a result of larval diet: young caterpillars fed catkins grow to be catkin mimics, whereas those fed leaves become twig mimics. Other environmental cues, such as day length, temperature, humidity and background colour, have no effect.…”

Section: Seasonal and Diet-induced Morphs In Lepidopteramentioning

confidence: 99%

Polyphenism in Insects

2011

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Polyphenism is the phenomenon where two or more distinct phenotypes are produced by the same genotype. Examples of polyphenism provide some of the most compelling systems for the study of epigenetics. Polyphenisms are a major reason for the success of the insects, allowing them to partition life history stages (with larvae dedicated to feeding and growth, and adults dedicated to reproduction and dispersal), to adopt different phenotypes that best suit predictable environmental changes (seasonal morphs), to cope with temporally heterogeneous environments (dispersal morphs), and to partition labour within social groups (the castes of eusocial insects). We survey the status of research on some of the best known examples of insect polyphenism, in each case considering the environmental cues that trigger shifts in phenotype, the neurochemical and hormonal pathways that mediate the transformation, the molecular genetic and epigenetic mechanisms involved in initiating and maintaining the polyphenism, and the adaptive and life-history significance of the phenomenon. We conclude by highlighting some of the common features of these examples and consider future avenues for research on polyphenism.

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“…The dominant position of insects has been aided by their phenotypic plasticity. Phenotype plasticity is ubiquitous environments, such as different physiological stats used to cope with temperature extremes (Rose, 1991), or in response to population pressure (Bolger et al, 2014;Duarte et al, 2017), host plant nutrition (Greene et al, 2009), and photoperiod (Niva & Takeda, 2003). Insects have provided many examples of polyphenism suitable for research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Body color plasticity of Diaphorina citri reflects a response to environmental stress

Fan,

Shang,

Pan

et al. 2023

Insect Science

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Body color polyphenism is common in Diaphorina citri. Previous studies compared physiological characteristics in D. citri, but the ecological and biological significance of its body color polyphenism remains poorly understood. We studied the ecological and molecular effects of stressors related to body color in D. citri. Crowding or low temperature induced a high proportion of gray morphs, which had smaller bodies, lower body weight, and greater susceptibility to the insecticide dinotefuran. We performed transcriptomic and metabolomics analysiis of 2 color morphs in D. citri. Gene expression dynamics revealed that the differentially expressed genes were predominantly involved in energy metabolism, including fatty acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and carbohydrate metabolism. Among these genes, plexin, glycosidase, phospholipase, take out, trypsin, and triacylglycerol lipase were differentially expressed in 2 color morphs, and 6 hsps (3 hsp70, hsp83, hsp90, hsp68) were upregulated in gray morphs. The metabolome data showed that blue morphs exhibited a higher abundance of fatty acid and amino acid, whereas the content of carbohydrates was elevated in gray morphs. This study partly explains the body color polyphenism of D. citri and provides insights into the molecular changes of stress response of D. citri.

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Developmental Flexibility, Phenotypic Plasticity, and Host Plants

Cited by 5 publications

References 9 publications

Phenotypic plasticity in a generalist insect herbivore with the combined use of direct and indirect cues

Phenotypic plasticity in a generalist insect herbivore with the combined use of direct and indirect cues

Polyphenism in Insects

Body color plasticity of Diaphorina citri reflects a response to environmental stress

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