Search results for "non|phenotype"

Evolutionary importance of intraspecific variation in sex pheromones

2021

Sex pheromones in many insect species are important species-recognition signals that attract conspecifics and inhibit attraction between heterospecifics; therefore, sex pheromones have predominantly been considered to evolve due to interactions between species. Recent research, however, is uncovering roles for these signals in mate choice, and that variation within and between populations can be drivers of species evolution. Variation in pheromone communication channels arises from a combination of context-dependent, condition-dependent, or genetic mechanisms in both signalers and receivers. Variation can affect mate choice and thus gene flow between individuals and populations, affecting s…

Influence of parasitoid-associated viral symbionts on plant–insect interactions and biological control

2021

International audience; Insect parasitoids have evolved symbiotic interactions with several viruses and thousands of parasitoid species have established mutualistic associations with polydnaviruses (PDVs). While PDVs have often been described as virulence factors allowing development of immature parasitoids inside their herbivore hosts, there is increasing awareness that PDVs can affect plant-insect interactions. We review recent literature showing that PDVs alter not only host physiology, but also feeding patterns and composition of herbivore's oral secretions. In turn PDV-induced changes in herbivore phenotype affect plant responses to herbivory with consequences ranging from differential…

The long journey of Orthotrichum shevockii (Orthotrichaceae, Bryopsida): From California to Macaronesia

2019

Biogeography, systematics and taxonomy are complementary scientific disciplines. To understand a species' origin, migration routes, distribution and evolutionary history, it is first necessary to establish its taxonomic boundaries. Here, we use an integrative approach that takes advantage of complementary disciplines to resolve an intriguing scientific question. Populations of an unknown moss found in the Canary Islands (Tenerife Island) resembled two different Californian endemic species: Orthotrichum shevockii and O. kellmanii. To determine whether this moss belongs to either of these species and, if so, to explain its presence on this distant oceanic island, we combined the evaluation of…

Open data and digital morphology

2017

International audience; Over the past two decades, the development of methods for visualizing and analysing specimens digitally, in three and even four dimensions, has transformed the study of living and fossil organisms. However, the initial promise that the widespread application of such methods would facilitate access to the underlying digital data has not been fully achieved. The underlying datasets for many published studies are not readily or freely available, introducing a barrier to verification and reproducibility, and the reuse of data. There is no current agreement or policy on the amount and type of data that should be made available alongside studies that use, and in some cases…

The Water to Water Cycles in Microalgae.

2016

In oxygenic photosynthesis, light produces ATP plus NADPH via linear electron transfer, i.e. the in-series activity of the two photosystems: PSI and PSII. This process, however, is thought not to be sufficient to provide enough ATP per NADPH for carbon assimilation in the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle. Thus, it is assumed that additional ATP can be generated by alternative electron pathways. These circuits produce an electrochemical proton gradient without NADPH synthesis, and, although they often represent a small proportion of the linear electron flow, they could have a huge importance in optimizing CO2 assimilation. In Viridiplantae, there is a consensus that alternative electron flow comp…

Early life of fathers affects offspring fitness in a wild rodent.

2019

Intergenerational fitness effects on offspring due to the early life of the parent are well studied from the standpoint of the maternal environment, but intergenerational effects owing to the paternal early life environment are often overlooked. Nonetheless, recent laboratory studies in mammals and ecologically relevant studies in invertebrates predict that paternal effects can have a major impact on the offspring's phenotype. These nongenetic, environment-dependent paternal effects provide a mechanism for fathers to transmit environmental information to their offspring and could allow rapid adaptation. We used the bank vole Myodes glareolus, a wild rodent species with no paternal care, to …

Direct and correlated responses to bi-directional selection on pre-adult development time in Drosophila montana.

2019

Selection experiments offer an efficient way to study the evolvability of traits that play an important role in insects’ reproduction and/or survival and to trace correlations and trade-offs between them. We have exercised bi-directional selection on Drosophila montana flies’ pre-adult development time under constant light and temperature conditions for 10 generations and traced the indirect effects of this selection on females’ diapause induction under different day lengths, as well as on the body weight and cold tolerance of both sexes. Overall, selection was successful towards slow, but not towards fast development. However, all fast selection line replicates showed at the end of selecti…

2017

Both effective population size and life history may influence the efficacy of purifying selection, but it remains unclear if the environment affects the accumulation of weakly deleterious nonsynonymous polymorphisms. We hypothesize that the reduced energetic cost of osmoregulation in brackish water habitat may cause relaxation of selective constraints at mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) genes. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed 57 complete mitochondrial genomes of Pungitius pungitius collected from brackish and freshwater habitats. Based on inter- and intraspecific comparisons, we estimated that 84% and 68% of the nonsynonymous polymorphisms in the freshwater and brackish …

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…

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…