A conserved fertility signal despite population variation in the cuticular chemical profile of the trap-jaw ant Odontomachus brunneus

2013 ◽  
Vol 216 (20) ◽  
pp. 3917-3924 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Smith ◽  
J. G. Millar ◽  
L. M. Hanks ◽  
A. V. Suarez
2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 20140947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian A. Smith ◽  
Jocelyn G. Millar ◽  
Andrew V. Suarez

Identifying group members and individuals' status within a group are fundamental tasks in animal societies. For ants, this information is coded in the cuticular hydrocarbon profile. We manipulated profiles of the ant Odontomachus brunneus to examine whether the releaser and primer effects of fertility signals are dependent on chemical context. Fertility status is signalled through increased abundance of ( Z )-9-nonacosene ( Z 9 : C 29 ). Across the ant's distribution, populations have distinct hydrocarbon profiles but the fertility signal is conserved. Foreign queens and fertility-signal-treated workers from the same population, sharing a similar chemical background, elicited releaser effects from workers, whereas queens and fertility-signal-treated workers from different populations did not. Z 9 : C 29 presented without chemical background did not elicit releaser effects. A primer-effect experiment found that Z 9 : C 29 , presented without a chemical background, did not inhibit worker reproduction. Our results demonstrate that a familiar chemical background is necessary for appropriate responses to fertility signals.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zac Wylde ◽  
Foteini Spagopoulou ◽  
Amy K Hooper ◽  
Alexei A Maklakov ◽  
Russell Bonduriansky

Individuals within populations vary enormously in mortality risk and longevity, but the causes of this variation remain poorly understood. A potentially important and phylogenetically widespread source of such variation is maternal age at breeding, which typically has negative effects on offspring longevity. Here, we show that paternal age can affect offspring longevity as strongly as maternal age does, and that breeding age effects can interact over two generations in both matrilines and patrilines. We manipulated maternal and paternal ages at breeding over two generations in the neriid fly Telostylinus angusticollis. To determine whether breeding age effects can be modulated by the environment, we also manipulated larval diet and male competitive environment in the first generation. We found separate and interactive effects of parental and grandparental ages at breeding on descendants’ mortality rate and lifespan in both matrilines and patrilines. These breeding age effects were not modulated by grandparental larval diet quality or competitive environment. Our findings suggest that variation in maternal and paternal ages at breeding could contribute substantially to intra-population variation in mortality and longevity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Yang ◽  
Di Zhang ◽  
Li-min Song ◽  
Qian Xu ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
...  

Peony seed oil (PSO) is a novel vegetable oil developed from the seeds of Paeonia suffruticosa Andr. The present study aimed to make an overall investigation on the chemical profile and antioxidant activities of PSO for reasonable development and utilization of this new resource food. Chemical analysis revealed that PSO was characterized by an uncommon high portion of α-linolenic acid (>38%), fairly low ratio of n-6 to n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (0.69), and much higher content of γ-tocopherol than various conventional seed oils. In vitro assay indicated that PSO is a more potent scavenger of free radicals than extra virgin olive oil. Moderate intake of PSO exhibited obvious protection against various oxidative damages such as tetrachloromethane-induced acute liver injury in mice and diet-induced hyperlipidemia in rats. The changes in the key indicators of oxidative injury and fatty acid composition in the liver caused by PSO administration were measured, and the results demonstrated that antioxidant properties of PSO are closely related to their characteristic chemical composition. Consequently, the present study provided new evidence for the health implications of PSO, which deserves further development for medical and nutritional use against oxidative damages that are associated with various diseases.


Author(s):  
Anna C. Rivara ◽  
Margaret Corley ◽  
Courtney C. Choy ◽  
Rachel L. Duckham ◽  
Alysa Pomer ◽  
...  

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 495
Author(s):  
Shixing Zhou ◽  
Toshmatov Zokir ◽  
Yu Mei ◽  
Lijing Lei ◽  
Kai Shi ◽  
...  

The chemical profile and allelopathic effect of the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced by a dominant shrub Serphidium kaschgaricum (Krasch.) Poljak. growing in northwestern China was investigated for the first time. Serphidium kaschgaricu was found to release volatile compounds into the surroundings to affect other plants’ growth, with its VOCs suppressing root elongation of Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Poa annua L. by 65.47% and 60.37% at 10 g/1.5 L treatment, respectively. Meanwhile, volatile oils produced by stems, leaves, flowers and flowering shoots exhibited phytotoxic activity against A. retroflexus and P. annua. At 0.5 mg/mL, stem, leaf and flower oils significantly reduced seedling growth of the receiver plants, and 1.5 mg/mL oils nearly completely prohibited seed germination of both species. GC/MS analysis revealed that among the total 37 identified compounds in the oils, 19 of them were common, with eucalyptol (43.00%, 36.66%, 19.52%, and 38.68% in stem, leaf, flower and flowering shoot oils, respectively) and camphor (21.55%, 24.91%, 21.64%, and 23.35%, respectively) consistently being the dominant constituents in all oils. Eucalyptol, camphor and their mixture exhibited much weaker phytotoxicity compared with the volatile oils, implying that less abundant compounds in the volatile oil might contribute significantly to the oils’ activity. Our results suggested that S. kaschgaricum was capable of synthesizing and releasing allelopathic volatile compounds into the surroundings to affect neighboring plants’ growth, which might improve its competitiveness thus facilitate the establishment of dominance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong-Liang Lu ◽  
Yan-Fu Qu ◽  
Hong Li ◽  
Xiang Ji

Abstract Phenotypic plasticity and local adaptation are viewed as the main factors that result in between-population variation in phenotypic traits, but contributions of these factors to phenotypic variation vary between traits and between species and have only been explored in a few species of reptiles. Here, we incubated eggs of the Chinese skink (Plestiodon chinensis) from 7 geographically separated populations in Southeast China at 3 constant temperatures (24, 28, and 32 °C) to evaluate the combined effects of clutch origin, source population, and incubation temperature on hatchling traits. The relative importance of these factors varied between traits. Nearly all examined hatchling traits, including body mass, snout–vent length (SVL), tail length, head size, limb length, tympanum diameter, and locomotor speed, varied among populations and were affected by incubation temperature. Measures for hatchling size (body mass and SVL) varied considerably among clutches. Source population explained much of the variation in hatchling body mass, whereas incubation temperature explained much of the variation in other examined traits. Our results indicate that between-population variation in hatchling traits of P. chinensis likely reflects the difference in natural incubation conditions and genetic divergence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Kuldeep Dhama ◽  
Khan Sharun ◽  
Mudasir B. Gugjoo ◽  
Ruchi Tiwari ◽  
Mahmoud Alagawany ◽  
...  

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