Search results for " Development"

Leaf anatomy does not explain apparent short-term responses of mesophyll conductance to light and CO2 in tobacco

2018

Mesophyll conductance to CO2 (gm ), a key photosynthetic trait, is strongly constrained by leaf anatomy. Leaf anatomical parameters such as cell wall thickness and chloroplast area exposed to the mesophyll intercellular airspace have been demonstrated to determine gm in species with diverging phylogeny, leaf structure and ontogeny. However, the potential implication of leaf anatomy, especially chloroplast movement, on the short-term response of gm to rapid changes (i.e. seconds to minutes) under different environmental conditions (CO2 , light or temperature) has not been examined. The aim of this study was to determine whether the observed rapid variations of gm in response to variations of…

Private information alone can trigger trapping of ant colonies in local feeding optima.

2015

Ant colonies are famous for using trail pheromones to make collective decisions. Trail pheromone systems are characterised by positive feedback, which results in rapid collective decision making. However, in an iconic experiment, ants were shown to become 'trapped' in exploiting a poor food source, if it was discovered earlier. This has conventionally been explained by the established pheromone trail becoming too strong for new trails to compete. However, many social insects have a well-developed memory, and private information often overrules conflicting social information. Thus, route memory could also explain this collective 'trapping' effect. Here, we disentangled the effects of social …

2020

During winter insects face energetic stress driven by lack of food, and thermal stress due to sub-optimal and even lethal temperatures. To survive, most insects living in seasonal environments such as high latitudes, enter diapause, a deep resting stage characterized by a cessation of development, metabolic suppression and increased stress tolerance. The current study explores physiological adaptations related to diapause in three beetle species at high latitudes in Europe. From an ecological perspective, the comparison is interesting since one species (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is an invasive pest that has recently expanded its range into northern Europe, where a retardation in range expa…

Glomeromycotina: what is a species and why should we care?

2018

International audience; A workshop at the recent International Conference on Mycorrhiza was focused on species recognition in Glomeromycotina and parts of their basic biology that define species. The workshop was motivated by the paradigm-shifting evidence derived from genomic data for sex and for the lack of heterokaryosis, and by published exchanges in Science that were based on different species concepts and have led to differing views of dispersal and endemism in these fungi. Although a lively discussion ensued, there was general agreement that species recognition in the group is in need of more attention, and that many basic assumptions about the biology of these important fungi includ…

First extensive characterization of the venom gland from an egg parasitoid: structure, transcriptome and functional role.

2018

The venom gland is a ubiquitous organ in Hymenoptera. In insect parasitoids, the venom gland has been shown to have multiple functions including regulation of host immune response, host paralysis, host castration and developmental alteration. However, the role played by the venom gland has been mainly studied in parasitoids developing in larval or pupal hosts while little is known for parasitoids developing in insect eggs. We conducted the first extensive characterization of the venom of the endoparasitoid Ooencyrtus telenomicida (Vassiliev), a species that develops in eggs of the stink bug Nezara viridula (L.). In particular we investigated the structure of the venom apparatus, its functio…

Oxylipin mediated stress response of a miraculin-like protease inhibitor in Hexanoic acid primed eggplant plants infested by Colorado potato beetle

2017

Insect-plant interactions are governed by a complex equilibrium between the mechanisms through which plant recognize insect attack and orchestrate downstream signaling events that trigger plant defense responses, and the mechanisms by which insects overcome plant defenses. Due to this tight and dynamic interplay, insight into the nature of the plant defense response can be gained by analyzing changes in the insect herbivores digestive system upon plant feeding. In this work we have identified a Solanum melongena miraculin-like protease inhibitor in the midgut juice of Colorado potato larvae feeding on eggplant plants treated with the natural inducer of plant defenses hexanoic acid. We analy…

NMD-Based Gene Regulation—A Strategy for Fitness Enhancement in Plants?

2019

Abstract Post-transcriptional RNA quality control is a vital issue for all eukaryotes to secure accurate gene expression, both on a qualitative and quantitative level. Among the different mechanisms, nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is an essential surveillance system that triggers degradation of both aberrant and physiological transcripts. By targeting a substantial fraction of all transcripts for degradation, including many alternative splicing variants, NMD has a major impact on shaping transcriptomes. Recent progress on the transcriptome-wide profiling and physiological analyses of NMD-deficient plant mutants revealed crucial roles for NMD in gene regulation and environmental response…

Extended winters entail long-term costs for insect offspring reared in an overwinter burrow

2018

International audience; Winter imposes an ecological challenge to animals living in colder climates, especially if these adverse conditions coincide with reproduction and offspring rearing. To overcome this challenge, some insects burrow in the soil to protect adults, larvae, or eggs from negative effects of winter. However, whether this protection is effective against any long-term consequences of changes in winter duration is unclear. Here, we investigated the long-term effects of winter length variation on eggs of the European earwig Forficula auricularia. In this insect, females construct and maintain a burrow between late autumn and spring, in which they provide extensive forms of care…

Sorting Motifs Involved in the Trafficking and Localization of the PIN1 Auxin Efflux Carrier

2016

In contrast with the wealth of recent reports about the function of μ-adaptins and clathrin adaptor protein (AP) complexes, there is very little information about the motifs that determine the sorting of membrane proteins within clathrin-coated vesicles in plants. Here, we investigated putative sorting signals in the large cytosolic loop of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1) auxin transporter, which are involved in binding μ-adaptins and thus in PIN1 trafficking and localization. We found that Phe-165 and Tyr-280, Tyr-328, and Tyr-394 are involved in the binding of different μ-adaptins in vitro. However, only Phe-165, which binds μA(μ2)- and μD(μ3)-adaptin, was found …

New insight to the role of microbes in the methane exchange in trees: evidence from metagenomic sequencing

2021

Methane (CH4) exchange in tree stems and canopies and the processes involved are among the least understood components of the global CH4 cycle. Recent studies have focused on quantifying tree stems as sources of CH4 and understanding abiotic CH4 emissions in plant canopies, with the role of microbial in situ CH4 formation receiving less attention. Moreover, despite initial reports revealing CH4 consumption, studies have not adequately evaluated the potential of microbial CH4 oxidation within trees. In this paper, we discuss the current level of understanding on these processes. Further, we demonstrate the potential of novel metagenomic tools in revealing the involvement of microbes in the C…