Many male animals wield ornaments or weapons of exaggerated proportions. We propose that increased cellular sensitivity to signaling through the insulin/insulin-like growth factor (IGF) pathway may ...be responsible for the extreme growth of these structures. We document how rhinoceros beetle horns, a sexually selected weapon, are more sensitive to nutrition and more responsive to perturbation of the insulin/IGF pathway than other body structures. We then illustrate how enhanced sensitivity to insulin/IGF signaling in a growing ornament or weapon would cause heightened condition sensitivity and increased variability in expression among individuals—critical properties of reliable signals of male quality. The possibility that reliable signaling arises as a by-product of the growth mechanism may explain why trait exaggeration has evolved so many different times in the context of sexual selection.
The phenotypic outcome of a mutation cannot be simply mapped onto the underlying DNA variant. Instead, the phenotype is a function of the allele, the genetic background in which it occurs and the ...environment where the mutational effects are expressed. While the influence of genetic background on the expressivity of individual mutations is recognized, its consequences on the interactions between genes, or the genetic network they form, is largely unknown. The description of genetic networks is essential for much of biology; yet if, and how, the topologies of such networks are influenced by background is unknown. Furthermore, a comprehensive examination of the background dependent nature of genetic interactions may lead to identification of novel modifiers of biological processes. Previous work in Drosophila melanogaster demonstrated that wild-type genetic background influences the effects of an allele of scalloped (sd), with respect to both its principal consequence on wing development and its interactions with a mutation in optomotor blind. In this study we address whether the background dependence of mutational interactions is a general property of genetic systems by performing a genome wide dominant modifier screen of the sd(E3) allele in two wild-type genetic backgrounds using molecularly defined deletions. We demonstrate that ~74% of all modifiers of the sd(E3) phenotype are background-dependent due in part to differential sensitivity to genetic perturbation. These background dependent interactions include some with qualitative differences in the phenotypic outcome, as well as instances of sign epistasis. This suggests that genetic interactions are often contingent on genetic background, with flexibility in genetic networks due to segregating variation in populations. Such background dependent effects can substantially alter conclusions about how genes influence biological processes, the potential for genetic screens in alternative wild-type backgrounds identifying new loci that contribute to trait expression, and the inferences of the topology of genetic networks.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Cryptic genetic variation is the dark matter of biology: it is variation that is not normally seen, but that might be an essential source of physiological and evolutionary potential. It is uncovered ...by environmental or genetic perturbations, and is thought to modify the penetrance of common diseases, the response of livestock and crops to artificial selection and the capacity of populations to respond to the emergence of a potentially advantageous macro-mutation. We argue in this review that cryptic genetic variation is pervasive but under-appreciated, we highlight recent progress in determining the nature and identity of genes that underlie cryptic genetic effects and we outline future research directions.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
There has been extensive research on the ecology and evolution of social life in animals that live in groups. Less attention, however, has been devoted to apparently solitary species, even though ...recent research indicates that they also possess complex social behaviors. To address this knowledge gap, we artificially selected on sociability, defined as the tendency to engage in nonaggressive activities with others, in fruit flies. Our goal was to quantify the factors that determine the level of sociability and the traits correlated with this feature. After 25 generations of selection, the high‐sociability lineages showed sociability scores about 50% higher than did the low‐sociability lineages. Experiments using the evolved lineages indicated that there were no differences in mating success between flies from the low and high lineages. Both males and females from the low lineages, however, were more aggressive than males and females from the high lineages. Finally, the evolved lineages maintained their sociability scores after 10 generations of relaxed selection, suggesting no costs to maintaining low and high sociability, at least under our settings. Sociability is a complex trait, which we currently assess through genomic work on the evolved lineages.
Explaining the origins of novel traits is central to evolutionary biology. Longstanding theory suggests that developmental plasticity, the ability of an individual to modify its development in ...response to environmental conditions, might facilitate the evolution of novel traits. Yet whether and how such developmental flexibility promotes innovations that persist over evolutionary time remains unclear. Here, we examine three distinct ways by which developmental plasticity can promote evolutionary innovation. First, we show how the process of genetic accommodation provides a feasible and possibly common avenue by which environmentally induced phenotypes can become subject to heritable modification. Second, we posit that the developmental underpinnings of plasticity increase the degrees of freedom by which environmental and genetic factors influence ontogeny, thereby diversifying targets for evolutionary processes to act on and increasing opportunities for the construction of novel, functional and potentially adaptive phenotypes. Finally, we examine the developmental genetic architectures of environment-dependent trait expression, and highlight their specific implications for the evolutionary origin of novel traits. We critically review the empirical evidence supporting each of these processes, and propose future experiments and tests that would further illuminate the interplay between environmental factors, condition-dependent development, and the initiation and elaboration of novel phenotypes.
Sexually‐selected exaggerated traits tend to be unusually reliable signals of individual condition, as their expression tends to be more sensitive to nutritional history and physiological ...circumstance than that of other phenotypes. As such, these traits are the foundation for many models of sexual selection and animal communication, such as “handicap” and “good genes” models. Exactly how expression of these traits is linked to the bearer's condition has been a central yet unresolved question, in part because the underlying physiological mechanisms regulating their development have remained largely unknown. Recent discoveries across animals as diverse as deer, beetles, and flies now implicate the widely conserved insulin‐like signaling pathway, as a common physiological mechanism regulating condition‐sensitive structures with extreme growth. This raises the exciting possibility that one highly conserved pathway may underlie the evolution of trait exaggeration in a multitude of sexually‐selected signal traits across the animal kingdom.
From the elaborate tails of peacocks to the enlarged head‐horns of dung beetles, sexually‐selected exaggerated traits are conspicuous and reliable signals of individual condition. How is the reliability and honesty of the signal maintained? We propose that co‐option of the ancient and highly conserved insulin/insulin‐like signaling pathway is the key.
Exaggerated Trait Growth in Insects Lavine, Laura; Gotoh, Hiroki; Brent, Colin S ...
Annual review of entomology,
01/2015, Letnik:
60, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Animal structures occasionally attain extreme proportions, eclipsing in size the surrounding body parts. We review insect examples of exaggerated traits, such as the mandibles of stag beetles ...(Lucanidae), the claspers of praying mantids (Mantidae), the elongated hindlimbs of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Caelifera), and the giant heads of soldier ants (Formicidae) and termites (Isoptera). Developmentally, disproportionate growth can arise through trait-specific modifications to the activity of at least four pathways: the sex determination pathway, the appendage patterning pathway, the insulin IGF signaling pathway, and the juvenile hormone ecdysteroid pathway. Although most exaggerated traits have not been studied mechanistically, it is already apparent that distinct developmental mechanisms underlie the evolution of the different types of exaggerated traits. We suggest this reflects the nature of selection in each instance, revealing an exciting link between mechanism, form, and function. We use this information to make explicit predictions for the types of regulatory pathways likely to underlie each type of exaggerated trait.
Sociability, defined as individuals’ propensity to participate in non-aggressive activities with conspecifics, is a fundamental feature of behavior in many animals including humans. However, we still ...have a limited knowledge of the mechanisms and evolutionary biology of sociability. To enhance our understanding, we developed a new protocol to quantify sociability in fruit flies (
Drosophila melanogaster
). In a series of experiments with 59 F1 hybrids derived from inbred lines, we documented, first, significant genetic variation in sociability in both males and females, with broad-sense heritabilities of 0.24 and 0.21 respectively. Second, we observed little genetic correlation in sociability between the sexes. Third, we found genetic variation in social plasticity among the hybrids, with a broad-sense heritability of ~0.24. That is, genotypes differed in the degree of sociability after experiencing the same relevant social experience. Our data pave the way for further research on the mechanisms that underlie sociability as well as its ecological and evolutionary consequences.
Changes in host specialization contribute to the diversification of phytophagous insects. When shifting to a new host, insects evolve new physiological, morphological, and behavioral adaptations. Our ...understanding of the genetic changes responsible for these adaptations is limited. For instance, we do not know how often host shifts involve gain-of-function vs. loss-of-function alleles. Recent work suggests that some genes involved in odor recognition are lost in specialists. Here we show that genes involved in detoxification and metabolism, as well as those affecting olfaction, have reduced gene expression in Drosophila sechellia-a specialist on the fruit of Morinda citrifolia. We screened for genes that differ in expression between D. sechellia and its generalist sister species, D. simulans. We also screened for genes that are differentially expressed in D. sechellia when these flies chose their preferred host vs. when they were forced onto other food. D. sechellia increases expression of genes involved with oogenesis and fatty acid metabolism when on its host. The majority of differentially expressed genes, however, appear downregulated in D. sechellia. For several functionally related genes, this decrease in expression is associated with apparent loss-of-function alleles. For example, the D. sechellia allele of Odorant binding protein 56e (Obp56e) harbors a premature stop codon. We show that knockdown of Obp56e activity significantly reduces the avoidance response of D. melanogaster toward M. citrifolia. We argue that apparent loss-of-function alleles like Obp56e potentially contributed to the initial adaptation of D. sechellia to its host. Our results suggest that a subset of genes reduce or lose function as a consequence of host specialization, which may explain why, in general, specialist insects tend to shift to chemically similar hosts.
The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, has proven to be an excellent model organism for genetic, genomic and neurobiological studies. However, relatively little is known about the natural history of ...D. melanogaster. In particular, neither the natural predators faced by wild populations of D. melanogaster, nor the anti-predatory behaviors they may employ to escape and avoid their enemies have been documented. Here we observe and describe the influence of two predators that differ in their mode of hunting: zebra jumping spiders, Salticus scenicus (active hunters) and Chinese praying mantids, Tenodera sinensis (ambush predators) on the behavioral repertoire of Drosophila melanogaster. We documented three particularly interesting behaviors: abdominal lifting, stopping, and retreat-which were performed at higher frequency by D. melanogaster in the presence of predators. While mantids had only a modest influence on the locomotory activity of D. melanogaster, we observed a significant increase in the overall activity of D. melanogaster in the presence of jumping spiders. Finally, we observed considerable among-individual behavioral variation in response to both predators.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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