skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Dopamine mediates the pea aphid wing plasticity
Many organisms exhibit phenotypic plasticity, in which developmental processes result in different phenotypes depending on their environmental context. Here we focus on the molecular mechanisms underlying that environmental response. Pea aphids ( Acyrthosiphon pisum ) exhibit a wing dimorphism, in which pea aphid mothers produce winged or wingless daughters when exposed to a crowded or low-density environment, respectively. We investigated the role of dopamine in mediating this wing plasticity, motivated by a previous study that found higher dopamine titres in wingless- versus winged-producing aphid mothers. In this study, we found that manipulating dopamine levels in aphid mothers affected the numbers of winged offspring they produced. Specifically, asexual female adults injected with a dopamine agonist produced a lower percentage of winged offspring, while asexual females injected with a dopamine antagonist produced a higher percentage of winged offspring, matching expectations based on the titre difference. We also found that genes involved in dopamine synthesis, degradation and signalling were not differentially expressed between wingless- and winged-producing aphids. This result indicates that titre regulation possibly happens in a non-transcriptional manner or that sampling of additional timepoints or tissues is necessary. Overall, our work emphasizes that dopamine is an important component of how organisms process information about their environments.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1749514
PAR ID:
10423894
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Biology Letters
Volume:
19
Issue:
5
ISSN:
1744-957X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; (, Insect Molecular Biology)
    Abstract Aphids are hosts to diverse viruses and are important vectors of plant pathogens. The spread of viruses is heavily influenced by aphid movement and behaviour. Consequently, wing plasticity (where individuals can be winged or wingless depending on environmental conditions) is an important factor in the spread of aphid‐associated viruses. We review several fascinating systems where aphid‐vectored plant viruses interact with aphid wing plasticity, both indirectly by manipulating plant physiology and directly through molecular interactions with plasticity pathways. We also cover recent examples where aphid‐specific viruses and endogenous viral elements within aphid genomes influence wing formation. We discuss why unrelated viruses with different transmission modes have convergently evolved to manipulate wing formation in aphids and whether this is advantageous for both host and virus. We argue that interactions with viruses are likely shaping the evolution of wing plasticity within and across aphid species, and we discuss the potential importance of these findings for aphid biocontrol. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; (, bioRxiv)
    A fundamental focus of evolutionary-developmental biology is uncovering the genetic mechanisms responsible for the gain and loss of characters. One approach to this question is to investigate changes in the coordinated expression of a group of genes important for the development of a character of interest (a gene regulatory network). Here we consider the possibility that modifications to the wing gene regulatory network (wGRN), as defined by work primarily done in Drosophila melanogaster, were involved in the evolution of wing dimorphisms of the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum). We hypothesize that this may have occurred via changes in expression levels or duplication followed by sub-functionalization of wGRN components. To test this, we annotated members of the wGRN in the pea aphid genome and assessed their expression levels in first and third nymphal instars of winged and wingless morphs of males and asexual females. We find that only two of the 32 assessed genes exhibit morph-biased expression. We also find that three wing genes (apterous (ap), warts (wts), and decapentaplegic (dpp)) have undergone gene duplication. In each case, the resulting paralogs show signs of functional divergence, exhibiting either sex-, morph-, or stage-specific expression. Two gene duplicates, wts2 and dpp3, are of particular interest with respect to wing dimorphism, as they exhibit a wingless male-specific isoform and wingless male-biased expression, respectively. These results supplement our understanding of trends in developmental gene network evolution, such as side-stepping pleiotropic constraint via duplication and sub-functionalization, underlying the emergence of novel phenotypes. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
    Understanding how morphology evolves requires identifying the types of mutations that contribute to changes in development. We integrated comparative genomics and transcriptomics to reconstruct the evolution and regulation offollistatinparalogs in relation to the evolution of aphid winged and wingless morphs. We find that different pea aphidfollistatinduplicates play an essential molecular role in both the male and female wing dimorphisms, linking the genetic and environmental control of morph determination in each sex, respectively. We also find that an ancestralfollistatingene likely had multiple promoters and that thefollistatinduplicates that evolved wingless-specific expression retained only the ancestral wingless-specific promoter. Our work provides a roadmap for how alternative promoter usage and subsequent gene duplication can enable the evolution of animal form. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; (, Current Opinion in Insect Science)
    Le, Kang (Ed.)
    Aphids present a fascinating example of phenotypic plasticity, in which a single genotype can produce dramatically different winged and wingless phenotypes that are specialized for dispersal versus reproduction, respectively. Recent work has examined many aspects of this plasticity, including its evolution, molecular control mechanisms, and genetic variation underlying the trait. In particular, exciting discoveries have been made about the signaling pathways that are responsible for controlling the production of winged versus wingless morphs, including ecdysone, dopamine, and insulin signaling, and about how specific genes such as REPTOR2 and vestigial are regulated to control winglessness. Future work will likely focus on the role of epigenetic mechanisms, as well as developing transgenic tools for more thoroughly dissecting the role of candidate plasticity-related genes. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; (, bioRxiv)
    A<sc>bstract</sc> Heritable microbes shape host phenotypes and are important drivers of evolution. While interactions between insects and bacterial symbionts have been extensively studied, the prevalence and consequences of insect-viral symbiosis are an open question. We show that viral symbionts in the familyIflaviridaeare widespread among aphids, an important model for research on bacterial symbiosis. We discovered multiple new species of iflaviruses that are maintained in asexual lines without apparent fitness costs and are transmitted vertically from mothers to offspring. Using field data and phylogenetic evidence, we further show that aphid iflaviruses likely move horizontally across species, but through laboratory experiments, we demonstrated that horizontal transfer among species infesting the same host plants does not persist throughout clonal lineages. Using quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry, we discovered that viral infections localize in the host fat bodies and developing embryos. Surprisingly, we also found viral infections inside bacteria-housing cells called bacteriocytes, with a positive correlation between viral and bacterial symbiont density, indicating a mechanism for vertical transmission. Together, our work suggests that iflaviruses are an important but previously unrecognized piece of aphid symbiosis and sets the stage to use this model to answer new questions about host-microbe associations. I<sc>mportance</sc>In recent years, the rise of metatranscriptome sequencing has led to the rapid discovery of novel viral sequences in insects. However, few studies have carefully investigated the dynamics of insect-virus interactions to produce a general understanding of viral symbiosis. Aphids are a significant agricultural pest but also an important model for understanding the evolution of host-microbe interactions and the molecular basis of bacterial symbiosis. We show that heritable iflaviruses are an important but previously unrecognized part of the aphid heritable microbiome, with viral symbionts transmitted alongside bacteria from mothers to offspring, potentially via specialized bacteriocytes that house symbiotic microbes. Our findings have important implications for furthering the understanding of insect-microbe symbiosis and the potential for biocontrol of agriculturally relevant pest species. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email