Early Life Nutrition and the Programming of the Phenotype

Buchanan, Katherine L.; Meillère, Alizée; Jessop, Tim S.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-90131-8_6

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 364 publications

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“…Additionally, a large literature shows that melanin‐based traits are often condition dependent (Roulin, 2016) and diet variation may be a proximate mechanism that explains this condition dependence. Alternatively, understanding when melanin‐based traits are robust in the face of diet variation may reveal when these traits are highly prioritized or canalized (Buchanan et al, 2022).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

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The effect of diet on melanin pigmentation in animals

Britton

Davidowitz

2022

Functional Ecology

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Melanin, including both eu‐ and pheomelanin forms, is the most common pigment type in animals and plays numerous adaptive roles. However, the effect of diet on melanin pigmentation is not well reviewed or synthesized. Understanding how diet influences melanin may lead to valuable insights such as explaining intraspecific variation or explaining when melanin‐based traits are plastic or condition dependent versus when they are prioritized or canalized. In order to assess the state of the literature and the current understanding of the effects of diet on melanin pigmentation we conducted a systematic literature search. We use the search results to highlight common patterns across animals. In particular we focus on three questions: Which dietary components can influence melanin? Which aspects of melanin‐based traits are influenced by diet? What factors can mediate the influence of diet on melanin? The effect of diet on melanin is complex and multifaceted. Diet itself can vary in a number of ways including diet quantity, protein content, fatty acid content and amount of metals and other micronutrients. We discuss the mechanisms by which these components influence melanin pigmentation. Diet can influence the size, darkness and colour of melanin‐based traits. Often, diet influences one of these aspects but not another, which may reflect the processes of melanin synthesis and distribution. Factors that mediate whether melanin pigmentation responds to dietary variation include the type of trait, life stage, sex and environmental stress. Methodology (e.g. degree of manipulation relative to natural conditions) can also influence results. These nuances should be considered when developing hypotheses about the effects of diet on melanin pigmentation. We conclude with important areas for future research, including the proximate mechanisms connecting diet and melanin, how diet affects internal melanin, how diet mediates costs of melanin pigmentation and how diet affects the evolution of melanin‐based traits. Overall, diet has important and complex effects on melanin and likely plays an important role in the ecology and evolution of melanin pigmentation. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alternatively, understanding when melanin-based traits are robust in the face of diet variation may reveal when these traits are highly prioritized or canalized (Buchanan et al, 2022).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of diet on melanin pigmentation in animals

Britton

Davidowitz

2022

Functional Ecology

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“…Early larval stages are especially susceptible to environmental cues such as nutritional variation (Zhang et al 2023a), which can in turn shape their adult developmental outcomes (Rehman and Varghese 2021). In addition, the influence of these early-life dietary factors can be enduring, having lasting effects on adult growth, behaviour, and physiological functions, even when the initial environmental conditions are no longer present (Buchanan et al 2022, Liu et al 2022). For instance, nutritional intake during the larval stage can induce plasticity in the horn length of adult male dung beetles (Reaney and Knell 2015), a trait that is associated with reproductive success via intrasexual selection (Emlen et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does What You Eat Affect How You Mate? Disentangling the Interactions Between Diet-Induced Phenotypic Plasticity and Adult Reproductive Strategies in Black Soldier Flies

Zhang,

Ng,

Chin

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Phenotypic plasticity enables organisms to response to environmental variations by generating a range of phenotypes from a single genotype. In holometabolous insects, traits that influence larval plasticity may hold relevance for adult life history strategies. We present a comprehensive investigation into phenotypic plasticity in black soldier flies, a species known for its efficient waste-to-biomass conversion in the larval stage. Here, we document adult sex-specific plastic responses and reproductive strategies shaped by larval diets. We examined traits including adult body size, reproductive organ development, sperm length, mating behaviours, egg production and other life history parameters across different treatments. Our findings reveal notable sex-specific differences in phenotypic plasticity, with females showing increased plasticity in reproductive investment. Furthermore, males and females differed starkly in allometric growth and weight ratio of reproductive organs. Diets that facilitated longer male lifespans also prompted earlier male emergence suggesting an interplay between lifespan and degree of protandry. This maximizes the overlap of male and female lifespans, thereby enhancing mating success in diverse environmental conditions. Our results reveal plastic responses in mating behaviours, where diets producing smaller adults, smaller reproductive organs, and shorter sperm correlated with significantly enhanced mating effort and performance. This study highlights the complex interactions between nutrition, development, and reproductive strategies, and has significant implications for the insect bioconversion industries.

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“…Nutrition plays an essential role in physiology and affects several vital processes, including growth, development, reproduction and immune functions. A deficiency in whole food or some essential nutrients can profoundly affect an organism's physiology and corresponding fitness (Buchanan et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2008; Magwere et al., 2004). The availability of these essential nutrients in the environment varies considerably, depending on factors such as climate, season and the presence of other organisms (competitors and predators) (Birnie‐Gauvin et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2022).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex‐specific effects of dietary restriction on physiological variables in Japanese quails

Reda,

Ndunguru,

Csernus

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Nutritional limitation is a common phenomenon in nature that leads to trade‐offs among processes competing for limited resources. These trade‐offs are mediated by changes in physiological traits such as growth factors and circulating lipids. However, studies addressing the sex‐specific effect of nutritional deficiency on these physiological variables are limited in birds. We used dietary restriction to mimic the depletion of resources to various degrees and investigated sex‐specific effects on circulating levels of insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1) and triglycerides in Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) subjected to ad libitum, 20%, 30% or 40% restriction of their daily requirement, for 2 weeks. We also explored the association of both physiological variables with body mass and egg production. While dietary restriction showed no effects on circulating IGF‐1, this hormone exhibited a marked sexual difference, with females having 64.7% higher IGF‐1 levels than males. Dietary restriction significantly reduced plasma triglyceride levels in both sexes. Females showed more than six‐fold higher triglyceride levels than males. Triglyceride levels were positively associated with body mass in females while showed not association in males. Overall, our findings revealed sex‐specific expression of physiological variables under dietary restriction conditions, which coincide with body size.

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Early Life Nutrition and the Programming of the Phenotype

Cited by 11 publications

References 364 publications

The effect of diet on melanin pigmentation in animals

The effect of diet on melanin pigmentation in animals

Does What You Eat Affect How You Mate? Disentangling the Interactions Between Diet-Induced Phenotypic Plasticity and Adult Reproductive Strategies in Black Soldier Flies

Sex‐specific effects of dietary restriction on physiological variables in Japanese quails

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