Nasonia Parasitic Wasps Escape from Haller's Rule by Diphasic, Partially Isometric Brain-Body Size Scaling and Selective Neuropil Adaptations

Groothuis, Jitte; Smid, Hans M.

doi:10.1159/000480421

Cited by 24 publications

(56 citation statements)

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“…; Kotrschal et al. ), and relative volumes of multiple neuropils in brains of N. vitripennis have been found to differ between wasps of different sizes (Groothuis and Smid ), this is only one of many possible mechanisms through which changes in cognitive ability can be mediated. Possibly, selection has resulted in subtle changes in sites of synaptic plasticity in underlying pathways, since this does not require large morphological changes of the brain but can influence cognitive ability (Margulies et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our results on brain morphology showed no difference in relative volume of neuropils between selected and control lines. Although learning performance has been associated with volumetric changes in brains or neuropils (Fahrbach et al 2003;Kotrschal et al 2013), and relative volumes of multiple neuropils in brains of N. vitripennis have been found to differ between wasps of different sizes (Groothuis and Smid 2017), this is only one of many possible mechanisms through which changes in cognitive ability can be mediated. Possibly, selection has resulted in subtle changes in sites of synaptic plasticity in underlying pathways, since this does not require large morphological changes of the brain but can influence cognitive ability (Margulies et al 2005;Waddell 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Selection for associative learning of color stimuli reveals correlated evolution of this learning ability across multiple stimuli and rewards

et al. 2018

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We are only starting to understand how variation in cognitive ability can result from local adaptations to environmental conditions. A major question in this regard is to what extent selection on cognitive ability in a specific context affects that ability in general through correlated evolution. To address this question, we performed artificial selection on visual associative learning in female Nasonia vitripennis wasps. Using appetitive conditioning in which a visual stimulus was offered in association with a host reward, the ability to learn visual associations was enhanced within 10 generations of selection. To test for correlated evolution affecting this form of learning, the ability to readily form learned associations in females was also tested using an olfactory instead of a visual stimulus in the appetitive conditioning. Additionally, we assessed whether the improved associative learning ability was expressed across sexes by color‐conditioning males with a mating reward. Both females and males from the selected lines consistently demonstrated an increased associative learning ability compared to the control lines, independent of learning context or conditioned stimulus. No difference in relative volume of brain neuropils was detected between the selected and control lines.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selection for associative learning of color stimuli reveals correlated evolution of this learning ability across multiple stimuli and rewards

et al. 2018

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“…Whereas gregarious parasitoids such as Nasonia spp. can vary greatly in size based on host effect (e.g., genetically identical males can vary by a factor of 2; Groothuis & Smid, 2017), the host batch was the same for directly compared datasets and host effect on body size was assumed to be insignificant due to random use. As the abdomen size can fluctuate over a specimen's lifetime from feeding or egg load, head width was used as a proxy for total body size (as in, e.g., Charnov & Skinner, 1984).…”

Section: Head Width (Body Size)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Life‐history traits of the Whiting polyploid line of the parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis

Leung

Zande

Beukeboom

2019

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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In hymenopterans, males are normally haploid (1n) and females diploid (2n), but individuals with divergent ploidy levels are frequently found. In species with ‘complementary sex determination’ (CSD), increasing numbers of diploid males that are often infertile or unviable arise from inbreeding, presenting a major impediment to biocontrol breeding. Non‐CSD species, which are common in some parasitoid wasp taxa, do not produce polyploids through inbreeding. Nevertheless, polyploidy also occurs in non‐CSD Hymenoptera. As a first survey on the impacts of inbreeding and polyploidy of non‐CSD species, we investigate life‐history traits of a long‐term laboratory line of the parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis (Walker) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) (‘Whiting polyploid line’) in which polyploids of both sexes (diploid males, triploid females) are viable and fertile. Diploid males produce diploid sperm and virgin triploid females produce haploid and diploid eggs. We found that diploid males did not differ from haploid males with respect to body size, progeny size, mate competition, or lifespan. When diploid males were mated to many females (without accounting for mating order), the females produced a relatively high proportion of male offspring, possibly indicating that these males produce less sperm and/or have reduced sperm functionality. In triploid females, parasitization rate and fecundity were reduced and body size was slightly increased, but there was no effect on lifespan. After one generation of outbreeding, lifespan as well as parasitization rate were increased, and a body size difference was no longer apparent. This suggests that outbreeding has an effect on traits observed in an inbred polyploidy background. Overall, these results indicate some phenotypic detriments of non‐CSD polyploids that must be taken into account in breeding.

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“…In Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00441-019-03079-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. N. vitripennis, this leads to several structural adaptations in the brains of the smallest wasps (Groothuis and Smid 2017). These small-sized N. vitripennis individuals have inferior memory retention when compared to larger conspecifics (van der Woude et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Species- and size-related differences in dopamine-like immunoreactive clusters in the brain of Nasonia vitripennis and N. giraulti

2019

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An extreme reduction in body size has been shown to negatively impact the memory retention level of the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis. In addition, N. vitripennis and Nasonia giraulti, closely related parasitic wasps, differ markedly in the number of conditioning trials required to form long-term memory. These differences in memory dynamics may be associated with differences in the dopaminergic neurons in the Nasonia brains. Here, we used dopamine immunoreactivity to identify and count the number of cell bodies in dopaminergic clusters of normal-and small-sized N. vitripennis and normal-sized N. giraulti. We counted in total a maximum of approximately 160 dopaminergic neurons per brain. These neurons were present in 9 identifiable clusters (D1a, D1b, D2, D3, D4a, D4b, D5, D6 and D7). Our analysis revealed that N. giraulti had fewer cells in the D2 and D4a clusters but more in D4b, compared with normal-sized N. vitripennis. In addition, we found fewer cells in the D5 and D7 cluster of small-sized N. vitripennis compared to normal-sized N. vitripennis. A comparison of our findings with the literature on dopaminergic clusters in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the honey bee Apis mellifera indicates that clusters D2, D3 and D5 may play a role in memory formation in Nasonia wasps. The results from both the species comparison and the size comparison are therefore of high interest and importance for our understanding of the complex intricacies that underlie the memory dynamics of insects.

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Nasonia Parasitic Wasps Escape from Haller's Rule by Diphasic, Partially Isometric Brain-Body Size Scaling and Selective Neuropil Adaptations

Cited by 24 publications

References 56 publications

Selection for associative learning of color stimuli reveals correlated evolution of this learning ability across multiple stimuli and rewards

Selection for associative learning of color stimuli reveals correlated evolution of this learning ability across multiple stimuli and rewards

Life‐history traits of the Whiting polyploid line of the parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis

Species- and size-related differences in dopamine-like immunoreactive clusters in the brain of Nasonia vitripennis and N. giraulti

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