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Results for “Reproductive diapause”

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PubMed2026

A horizontally transferred bacterial gene for pantothenic acid biosynthesis regulates diapause and reproduction in the spider mite Amphitetranychus viennensis.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has contributed substantially to the evolution of arthropod genomes, yet the functional significance of many horizontally acquired genes remains poorly understood. The hawthorn spider mite, Amphitetranychus viennensis, is a devastating agricultural pest whose high fecundity and overwintering diapause afford its exceptional ecological resilience. Through a genome-wide screen, we identified 37 high-confidence horizontally transferred genes (HTGs) in A. viennensis. Among these candidates, we prioritized AvPBL, a gene encoding pantothenate-β-alanine ligase, for functional characterization because it controls the rate-limiting step of a distinctly non-metazoan pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) biosynthesis pathway. RNAi-mediated suppression of AvPBL significantly reduced transcript abundance and endogenous pantothenic acid levels, triggering a 23.7% reduction in cumulative fecundity and severely compromising the mites' ability to enter winter diapause. Importantly, exogenous pantothenic acid supplementation rescued these reproductive and diapause defects, directly linking the observed phenotypes to the disruption of pantothenic acid biosynthesis. Our results demonstrate that the horizontally transferred bacterial gene AvPBL has been functionally integrated into the endogenous metabolic network of A. viennensis, playing a critical role in vitamin B5 biosynthesis, reproduction, and diapause regulation. These findings provide direct evidence that horizontally acquired metabolic genes can shape key life-history traits and drive adaptive evolution in arthropods.

Amphitetranychus viennensis↗
PubMed2025

Novel genetic association with migratory diapause in Australian monarch butterflies.

BACKGROUND: Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are a charismatic and culturally important North American butterfly species famous for their unique, dramatic migratory life history. While non-migratory populations of the species are widespread and apparently stable, migratory populations in North America have recently seen declines, prompting concern that the migratory phenomenon in North America may be at risk of disappearing. In contrast, a relatively recently-established monarch population in Australia has rapidly re-acquired a migratory life history following hundreds of generations of residency and successive bottlenecks as the species island-hopped across the Pacific during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The process by which migration re-emerged in Australian monarchs is not currently known. RESULTS: We raised and sequenced individuals from Queensland, Australia under environmental conditions associated with migration initiation and found strong variance in reproductive diapause, a key migratory trait, between families which was associated with variation at the spectrin beta chain protein Karst. This protein is known to be involved in diapause termination in monarchs but has not previously been identified as associated with migratory life history variance. The most strongly associated migratory SNPs are also present at a low frequency in North America, suggesting that the Australian population is leveraging standing variation which persisted across repeated bottlenecks as Monarchs spread across the Pacific. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide an intriguing example of how the temporary loss of migration-in this case likely over hundreds of generations-may not entail the loss of genetic variation associated with this complex life history strategy.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

[Maturation of the female Tetrix undulata (Swrb) (Orthoptera, Tetrigidae): influence of the male and copulation:parthenogenetic egg-laying].

The percentage of laying females and laying time, are compared between mature females (diapause break by chilling) and diapause strain females (diapause not broken by chilling) reared with mature male or diapause male or without male. For the same physiological state of the females (mature or diapause) there is no difference in the percentage of females laying, when they are reared with mature male or with diapause one or none; but the laying time is shortest with mature male, longer with male in diapause, even longer without male. Parthenogenetic egg-pods can be obtain. Rearing with mature males does not break the reproductive diapause of females. In parthenogenetic egg-pods the number of eggs is short for low diapause females; greater for mature ones and greatest for females with strong diapause broken by a corpus allatum implant of mature female of Locusta migratoria. Corpus allatum of the low diapause strain of females of Tetrix undulata have less activity than that of mature females. Few parthenogenetic eggs develop, even less hatch. In Tetrix undulata parthenogenesis is accidental.

Animals↗
PubMed2015

Evolutionary genomics of Culex pipiens: global and local adaptations associated with climate, life-history traits and anthropogenic factors.

We present the first genome-wide study of recent evolution in Culex pipiens species complex focusing on the genomic extent, functional targets and likely causes of global and local adaptations. We resequenced pooled samples of six populations of C. pipiens and two populations of the outgroup Culex torrentium. We used principal component analysis to systematically study differential natural selection across populations and developed a phylogenetic scanning method to analyse admixture without haplotype data. We found evidence for the prominent role of geographical distribution in shaping population structure and specifying patterns of genomic selection. Multiple adaptive events, involving genes implicated with autogeny, diapause and insecticide resistance were limited to specific populations. We estimate that about 5-20% of the genes (including several histone genes) and almost half of the annotated pathways were undergoing selective sweeps in each population. The high occurrence of sweeps in non-genic regions and in chromatin remodelling genes indicated the adaptive importance of gene expression changes. We hypothesize that global adaptive processes in the C. pipiens complex are potentially associated with South to North range expansion, requiring adjustments in chromatin conformation. Strong local signature of adaptation and emergence of hybrid bridge vectors necessitate genomic assessment of populations before specifying control agents.

Adaptation, Biological↗