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Parthenogenetic Reproduction (parthenogenetic + reproduction)
Selected AbstractsNeuropeptide and neurohormone precursors in the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisumINSECT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, Issue 2010J. Huybrechts Abstract Aphids respond to environmental changes by developing alternative phenotypes with differing reproductive modes. Parthenogenetic reproduction occurs in spring and summer, whereas decreasing day lengths in autumn provoke the production of sexual forms. Changing environmental signals are relayed by brain neuroendocrine signals to the ovarioles. We combined bioinformatic analyses with brain peptidomics and cDNA analyses to establish a catalogue of pea aphid neuropeptides and neurohormones. 42 genes encoding neuropeptides and neurohormones were identified, of which several were supported by expressed sequence tags and/or peptide mass analyses. Interesting features of the pea aphid peptidome are the absence of genes coding for corazonin, vasopressin and sulfakinin and the presence of 10 different genes coding insulin related peptides, one of which appears to be very abundantly expressed. [source] Transgenerational plasticity for sexual reproduction and diapause in the life cycle of monogonont rotifers: intraclonal, intraspecific and interspecific variation in the response to crowdingFUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2004T. SCHRÖDER Summary 1In monogonont rotifers parthenogenetic reproduction allows population growth, and mictic (sexual) reproduction leads to the production of diapausing eggs. When amictic females are exposed to a mixis stimulus, they produce mictic daughters, whose eggs develop into males or, if fertilized, into diapausing eggs. Experiments showed that mictic offspring production is initiated by crowding in females of Brachionus angularis Gosse 1851, Epiphanes senta (O.F. Müller 1773) and Rhinoglena frontalis Ehrenberg 1853, just as it is in Brachionus calyciflorus Pallas 1766 and B. plicatilis Müller 1786. 2In B. calyciflorus, B. angularis, E. senta and R. frontalis, the propensity of amictic females to respond to crowding by producing mictic female offspring is low in the stem female hatching from a diapausing egg, but then increases after some generations. In many cases, only few mictic offspring are produced by crowded females of the second to the fifth generation, but the maximal response occurs only in later generations. Delayed sexual reproduction in early generations from the resting egg may be advantageous, because it first favours rapid population growth and later on maximizes resting egg production. However, it may be disadvantageous, if unpredictable environmental variation causes a population decline when sexual reproduction is still suppressed. 3The extent to which sexual reproduction is delayed varies among and within species. When strains from populations in temporary and permanent habitats were compared, sexual reproduction was significantly delayed in strains from temporary habitats in all species, whereas in B. calyciflorus and R. frontalis mixis was not significantly delayed in strains from permanent habitats. In E. senta mixis was significantly delayed in clones from both habitat types. 4Within all strains there was significant variation among clones in the propensity to produce mictic offspring, the extent to which sexual reproduction was delayed in the first generations after the stem female hatched, or both. [source] Ample genetic variation but no evidence for genotype specificity in an all-parthenogenetic host,parasitoid interactionJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 3 2010C. SANDROCK Abstract Antagonistic coevolution between hosts and parasites can result in negative frequency-dependent selection and may thus be an important mechanism maintaining genetic variation in populations. Negative frequency-dependence emerges readily if interactions between hosts and parasites are genotype-specific such that no host genotype is most resistant to all parasite genotypes, and no parasite genotype is most infective on all hosts. Although there is increasing evidence for genotype specificity in interactions between hosts and pathogens or microparasites, the picture is less clear for insect host,parasitoid interactions. Here, we addressed this question in the black bean aphid (Aphis fabae) and its most important parasitoid Lysiphlebus fabarum. Because both antagonists are capable of parthenogenetic reproduction, this system allows for powerful tests of genotype × genotype interactions. Our test consisted of exposing multiple host clones to different parthenogenetic lines of parasitoids in all combinations, and this experiment was repeated with animals from four different sites. All aphids were free of endosymbiotic bacteria known to increase resistance to parasitoids. We observed ample genetic variation for host resistance and parasitoid infectivity, but there was no significant host clone × parasitoid line interaction, and this result was consistent across the four sites. Thus, there is no evidence for genotype specificity in the interaction between A. fabae and L. fabarum, suggesting that the observed variation is based on rather general mechanisms of defence and attack. [source] DNA barcodes to identify species and explore diversity in the Adelgidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aphidoidea)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 2009R. G. FOOTTIT Abstract The Adelgidae are relatively small, cryptic insects, exhibiting complex life cycles with parthenogenetic reproduction. Due to these characteristics, the taxonomy of the group is problematic. Here, we test the effectiveness of the standard 658-bp barcode fragment from the 5,-end of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene (COI) in differentiating among 17 species of Adelgidae, in associating life-cycle stages, and in assessing patterns of geographical variation in selected species. Species of Adelgidae are well-differentiated by DNA barcodes, enabling the identification of different morphological forms, immature stages and individuals on different hosts and at different periods of the life cycle. DNA barcodes have uncovered cryptic diversity within taxa and, in other cases, a lack of sequence divergence in species pairs previously separated by life-cycle characteristics, indicating a need for further taxonomic analysis. [source] Species identification of aphids (Insecta: Hemiptera: Aphididae) through DNA barcodesMOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 6 2008R. G. FOOTTIT Abstract A 658-bp fragment of mitochondrial DNA from the 5, region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene has been adopted as the standard DNA barcode region for animal life. In this study, we test its effectiveness in the discrimination of over 300 species of aphids from more than 130 genera. Most (96%) species were well differentiated, and sequence variation within species was low, averaging just 0.2%. Despite the complex life cycles and parthenogenetic reproduction of aphids, DNA barcodes are an effective tool for identification. [source] | ||||||||||