scholarly journals Red and black: A β-carotene-binding protein carrying a red pigment regulates body-color transition in locusts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meiling Yang ◽  
Yanli Wang ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Zhikang Liu ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Binding Protein ◽  
Ventral Surface ◽  
Red Pigment ◽  
Body Color ◽  
Migratory Locust ◽  
Color Palette ◽  
Color Changes ◽  
Variable Environments ◽  
Gregarious Locusts ◽  
Β Carotene

AbstractChanges of body color have important effects for animals in adapting to variable environments. The migratory locust exhibits body color polyphenism between solitary and gregarious individuals, with the former displaying a uniform green coloration and the latter having a prominent pattern of black dorsal and brown ventral surface. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the density-dependent body color changes of conspecific locusts remain largely unknown. Here, we found that up regulation of β-carotene-binding protein promotes the accumulation of red pigment, which added to the green color palette present in solitary locusts changes it from green to black, and that down regulation of this protein led to the reverse, changing the color of gregarious locusts from black to green. Our results provide insight that color changes of locusts are dependent on variation in the red β-carotene pigment binding to βCBP. This finding of animal coloration corresponds with trichromatic theory of color vision.

scholarly journals A β-carotene-binding protein carrying a red pigment regulates body-color transition between green and black in locusts

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meiling Yang ◽  
Yanli Wang ◽  
Qing Liu ◽  
Zhikang Liu ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Binding Protein ◽  
Ventral Surface ◽  
Red Pigment ◽  
Body Color ◽  
Migratory Locust ◽  
Color Palette ◽  
Color Changes ◽  
Variable Environments ◽  
Gregarious Locusts ◽  
Β Carotene

Changes of body color have important effects for animals in adapting to variable environments. The migratory locust exhibits body color polyphenism between solitary and gregarious individuals, with the former displaying a uniform green coloration and the latter having a prominent pattern of black dorsal and brown ventral surface. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the density-dependent body color changes of conspecific locusts remain largely unknown. Here, we found that upregulation of β-carotene-binding protein promotes the accumulation of red pigment, which added to the green color palette present in solitary locusts changes it from green to black, and that downregulation of this protein led to the reverse, changing the color of gregarious locusts from black to green. Our results provide insight that color changes of locusts are dependent on variation in the red β-carotene pigment binding to βCBP. This finding of animal coloration corresponds with trichromatic theory of color vision.

scholarly journals MicroRNA-276 promotes egg-hatching synchrony by up-regulating brm in locusts

2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 584-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing He ◽  
Qianquan Chen ◽  
Yuanyuan Wei ◽  
Feng Jiang ◽  
Meiling Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Maturation ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Egg Hatching ◽  
Stem Loop ◽  
Migratory Locust ◽  
Hatching Time ◽  
Hatching Synchrony ◽  
Variable Environments ◽  
Gregarious Locusts ◽  
And Migration

Developmental synchrony, the basis of uniform swarming, migration, and sexual maturation, is an important strategy for social animals to adapt to variable environments. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying developmental synchrony are largely unexplored. The migratory locust exhibits polyphenism between gregarious and solitarious individuals, with the former displaying more synchronous sexual maturation and migration than the latter. Here, we found that the egg-hatching time of gregarious locusts was more uniform compared with solitarious locusts and that microRNA-276 (miR-276) was expressed significantly higher in both ovaries and eggs of gregarious locusts than in solitarious locusts. Interestingly, inhibiting miR-276 in gregarious females and overexpressing it in solitarious females, respectively, caused more heterochronic and synchronous hatching of progeny eggs. Moreover, miR-276 directly targeted a transcription coactivator gene, brahma (brm), resulting in its up-regulation. Knockdown of brm not only resulted in asynchronous egg hatching in gregarious locusts but also impaired the miR-276–induced synchronous egg hatching in solitarious locusts. Mechanistically, miR-276 mediated brm activation in a manner that depended on the secondary structure of brm, namely, a stem-loop around the binding site of miR-276. Collectively, our results unravel a mechanism by which miR-276 enhances brm expression to promote developmental synchrony and provide insight into regulation of developmental homeostasis and population sustaining that are closely related to biological synchrony.

scholarly journals SURVIVAL OF MIGRATORY LOCUST AT DIFFERENT KEEPING CONDITIONS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.B. Gerus ◽  
◽  
Y.S. Tokarev ◽  
G.R. Lednev ◽  
M.B. Levchenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rate ◽  
Locusta Migratoria ◽  
Migratory Locust ◽  
Locusta Migratoria Migratorioides ◽  
Gregarious Locusts

In this article we studied the conditions for keeping two species of gregarious locusts: the African migratory locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides) and the Asian migratory locust (Locusta migratoria migratoria) in open and shaded areas. Based on the data obtained, it is shown that the survival rate of insects of the non-diapausal subspecies was higher in comparison with the obligate monovoltine.

Different transcriptional levels of Corazonin, Elevenin and PDF according to the body-color of the two-spotted cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitomi Seike ◽  
Shinji Nagata
Keyword(s):  
Locusta Migratoria ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Transcriptional Level ◽  
Body Color ◽  
Gryllus Bimaculatus ◽  
Pigment Dispersing Factor ◽  
Color Changes ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Endocrine Factors

Abstract Body-color in insects changes according to the living environment and physiological stresses possibly involved in endocrine factors. To date, three predominant bioactive peptides, Corazonin, Elevenin, and pigment-dispersing factor (PDF) have been illuminated to be involved in the body-color in insects and crustaceans. Here, we examined the possibilities that these three factors would contribute to body-color changes via melanization in the two-spotted cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus, whose body color changes according to population density drastically. Quantitative analyses revealed that the higher transcriptional levels of Corazonin and Elevenin in the crowded-conditioned crickets, whereas the transcriptional level of PDF was higher in the isolated-conditioned crickets. However, the body color was not changed by knockdown of Corazonin, Elevenin, and PDF by RNA interference. The present data indicated that coloration mechanisms in G. bimaculatus is differently controlled from the previous observation in Locusta migratoria, a closely related orthopteran species.

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